Q. How is the care at GreenField different than that at other offices?
A. In several ways. Here are a few highlights:
Non-office based care is readily available. To us, service and convenience means we strive to deliver care when and where you want and need it. We do our best to take care of your needs over the phone, and by email if you like, whenever possible. The only time you should be seen in the office is when you want and need to be seen. Of course, a physical examination is often needed to best evaluate a new symptom. However, many routine situations can be handled without an office visit, such as medication adjustments, interpretation of diagnostic tests, and arrangement of consultations with specialists. We can also follow up an existing problem, initiate a family conversation when facing difficult decisions, or answer questions about your care using email or telephone. The choice should be yours, and at GreenField it will be.
No long waits. We promise office appointments will always be available the same day or the next business day. A staff member will answer your phone call promptly. You will not suffer long delays in our office -- this is so important to us that we've designed our offices without waiting rooms! We do have hospitality areas where family and friends can sit, but if you are waiting, something is wrong -- your feedback will be welcomed so that we can continue to improve our service.
Internet Connectivity. Email my doctor -- did I read that right? Yes! While many patients and doctors have been experimenting with email "behind the scenes," we are promoting email as a "mainstream" complement to traditional face-to-face contact.
Comprehensiveness. A strong team emphasis coupled with our routine availability by phone or email broadens our ability to extend each "visit" over space and time. This flexibility supports comprehensive care in many ways, including answering additional questions that may subsequently arise, coordinating your care with family, friends or other health professionals, and discussing the need for an appointment before you come in. We believe our enhanced communication and team strategies dramatically improve all our patients' care, and may be particularly beneficial to our older and more vulnerable patients and their families.
A Personal Health Coordinator. We want to promote your long-term relationships not just with our doctors, but with our staff as well. You will always have a designated team member to be your advocate -- working with your physician to help you to facilitate appointments, lab tests, and follow up, providing you with useful health information and results, coordinating your care with other offices and care providers, and assisting with simple benefit questions and referrals.
Flexibility and Adaptability. We will be extremely responsive to your needs. Tell us what they are, and we'll do our best to meet them. This means you can expect to see new and improved services from us on a regular basis. To ensure flexibility as our practice develops, we can accommodate approximately 3000 new patients at this time.
Q. Will my health insurance pay for all this?
A. Yes and No. Virtually all insurance is structured to pay for office visits, and we will gladly bill your insurance when you are seen. However, physicians rarely receive payment for care provided without face-to-face contact with the patient, despite the obvious benefits such communication brings. To provide you with this expanded level of service and convenience we have elected to ask our patients to support our innovative practice with an annual fee. Click here for details.
Q. What does the annual fee cover?
A. The annual fee permits us to provide services beyond the scope intended by most health insurance products. These benefits include a reasonable amount of telephone and email consultation with or without a face-to-face visit, the convenience of a same day or next business day appointment always available, help with administrative forms, and the knowledge that your GreenField team is striving to bring better care to the community through innovation and social responsibility. For further detail, these additional benefits are defined on our annual fee page.
Q. Does my FSA/HSA cover the annual fee?
A. Maybe. We have had mixed reactions to this, and it seems to be plan dependent. We are happy to send you an example of a receipt that you can submit to your plan administrator to see if it will be approved for reimbursement. We do know that it would need to be submitted at the end of the year, as the plans will not reimburse prospective expenses. At this time, we are considering going for a private letter ruling from the IRS to get more clarity on this point, but we have had some success getting them approved to date.
Q. Are you a listed physician on my insurance plan?
A. Yes, in most cases. We want to participate in as many insurance plans as we can. Some plans do not permit physicians to participate if they charge extra fees to patients, as we are, and a few have told us that their panel is "full." We will always make available to you a list of the plans in which we currently participate. We recommend you review your benefit options closely, as many plans cover the majority of fees for office visits even if the physician does not participate in that particular insurance network.
Q. What if I want to be a patient at a GreenField clinic but my insurance won't pay for it?
A. We will always welcome patients who agree with our focus on Relationship, Service, and Reliability, and who are willing to pay for their office visits directly. Our fees will be reasonable and competitive with other offices. Since direct payment saves us the extra work and delay of submitting an insurance claim, we are pleased to offer a 20% discount for patients paying their office charges directly.
Q. I have a managed care plan that requires PCP authorization for referrals to specialists. Will I be able to get referrals?
A. Yes-if we are listed as a PCP with you and your insurance plan. We will work closely with our specialist colleagues to assure you access to the very best care. We regret that in the event that you are insured by a plan that has not granted a contract to GreenField, we will not be able to process referrals for you. Instead you will need to secure these referrals yourself from the primary care physician listed with your plan.
Q. What do you think about alternative and complementary medicine (Chiropractic, Acupuncture, etc.)?
A. We are very open to alternative and complementary modalities. In fact, we encourage our patients to explore any form of treatment that works for their particular needs, and we can help you to investigate potential new therapies through our electronic access to a variety of national databases of alternative and natural therapies. We particularly support those therapies for which there is quality research suggesting effectiveness. As providers of allopathic (otherwise known as “traditional” or “western”) medicine, we do not offer alternative modalities ourselves and recognize our own limitations in terms of applying therapies we have not been trained to provide. Our goal is to collaborate with our patients and their alternative providers as best we can for a holistic approach to healthy living.
Q. I'm a Medicare beneficiary. How will this work with GreenField clinics?
A. This now works the same as it does for our commercially insured patients. The annual fee for patients age 50-69 is $550, and the annual fee for patients 70 years of age and older is $650. We will bill Medicare for your clinic visits.
Q. I can't afford the fees, but still wish to be a patient. Is this possible?
A. We believe strongly that all Americans should have access to basic health care. We are deeply dismayed at the growing percentage of Americans without any health care benefits, and believe professional accountability includes a genuine and generous effort to help out our fellow citizens in their times of need. A portion of our patients' annual fees will be set aside to fund uncompensated care provided by our team. If you or someone you know would like to apply for assistance with our bill, please contact our clinic administrator directly.
Q. How do I become a patient?
A. Complete our New Patient Sign Up process by clicking here. This includes a release of information from your prior physician's office if you wish, along with several other electronic forms. You will be notified of the receipt of your information and your first visit will be scheduled. At that time, we will copy your insurance card, and get your signature for the e-forms.
Click Here to Become a Patient
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