Office Policies

You can reach our office at (318) 797-5848, during normal office hours of 8am-5pm Monday-Friday. You will be directed to the appropriate personnel for your specific question or concern: Scheduling, Billing, New Patient Coordinator, or Referrals. You may also reach the office by utilizing the myHealthspot Patient Portal, however this is not monitored 24/7 and best used if you do not have a pressing matter. Our answering service will take calls after-hours at (318) 797-5848. If you believe your concern is a medical emergency, call 911 or seek immediate medical assistance at the nearest full-service emergency room.

You will need to schedule an appointment with our clinic BEFORE undergoing any surgical procedure for any condition that you receive treatment for by this clinic and notify the provider of post-operative medication(s) prescribed.

If you are receiving narcotics from our office, please remember that you have signed a written agreement to follow certain safeguards. The purpose of the narcotic treatment agreement is to help us maintain a safe, controlled treatment plan for you. You must remember:

• You are not to receive pain medications from any other physician besides those at River Cities Interventional Pain Specialists. We monitor your pharmacy records periodically and if discovered that you have obtained narcotics from another provider, it will result in a referral for addiction treatment and loss of prescription privileges.
• You must take your medication exactly as instructed. Do not change dosage amounts without talking to our office first. If you want to change medications, you must bring un-used medicine with you to your appointment.
• You must keep all regular follow-up appointments and attend nurse visits.
• If prescribed a controlled medication you may be called for a mandatory compliance visit which you must present to the office within 48 hours of being notified. This is standard procedure for practices prescribing controlled medication as required by schedule II-V license holders of the state of Louisiana.

It is important to make sure that you have enough medication to make it through the weekend or after hours. Medication refills will not be called in or refilled by the provider on-call after hours or on weekends.

Prescriptions will only be refilled during normal business hours. No prescriptions will be filled during weekends, holidays, or after hours. It is your responsibility to make sure you have a sufficient amount of medications. You must remember:

• The patient is responsible for his/her pain medication.
• There are no early prescription refills.
• Call the office 3 BUSINESS DAYS before your medication runs out. You may not have someone else call for you.
• This facility does not fill narcotic prescriptions on the weekend, holidays, or after hours. If you require a refill outside of your appointment time, we require 3 days’ notice to fill a prescription once it has been evaluated by the practitioner. Be aware of holidays and office closings that might interfere with the 3 day notice.
• Due to the availability of your physician, your refill request may take up to three business days to be processed. Please check your prescription levels and make your request prior to running out of medication or the start of a weekend to ensure you have adequate medication supplies to last until your refill is processed. When weekends and/or holidays are involved, this could be a wait of four to five days.
• If your pharmacy runs out of the medication before you can fill it, and need your prescription sent to another pharmacy, we are not able to “call around” to other pharmacies to see who has it in stock. You must do this and then call our office and request to have the prescription cancelled from the pharmacy that cannot fill it and send to the new pharmacy.
• Due to the nature of our practice, our clinic nurses and advanced practice practitioners can generate prescriptions however ALL prescriptions must be reviewed and then signed by Randall Brewer, M.D. before sending electronically to your pharmacy. This is completed daily following the end of afternoon clinic.
• MEDICATIONS ARE NOT REFILLED ON WEEKENDS, HOLIDAYS, or AFTER HOURS.

Please be prepared to provide the following information when calling regarding your medication:

• Your Name & Telephone Number
• Pharmacy Name & Telephone Number
• Medication Name & Strength

River Cities Interventional Pain Specialists is enrolled in an electronic prescribing program. This program is meant to help our providers with understanding what medications our patients are currently using and to give them the best possible treatment.

FOR EXISTING PATIENT APPOINTMENTS, patients are requested to arrive 15 minutes before their scheduled appointment time and have visit paperwork completed prior to coming. Paperwork can be completed in Patient Portal or printed from the website here, Online Forms.

FOR NEW PATIENTS, we ask that you arrive at least 30 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time and visits generally last 2-3 hours. Please allow time and prepare for a visit of this length on the day of your initial appointment. Please make sure you complete all required new patient paperwork prior to your visit and bring them to your appointment. This information will be used by the provider during your evaluation. Failure to have the forms completed prior to your arrival may result in your appointment being delayed or rescheduled. If possible, you may fax, email, or mail back to our facility. Forms can be accessed by visiting the New Patient Information page.

Our practice strives to provide not only the finest medical care, but also to provide a high level of efficiency and patient service. In order to have adequate office hour coverage, and to keep on schedule during our office hours, we follow a strict Late/No-show Policy. A fee may be charged if the following guidelines are not followed. To help remind patients of their appointments we have implemented a reminder system. Please assure we have your correct and most up to date phone numbers at all times throughout the course of your treatment to allow us to better serve you.

• If you arrive 15-20 minutes past your scheduled appointment time the Director of Nursing will be consulted for permission to be seen.
• Any tardiness over 20 minutes will not be seen that day and must be rescheduled. If you need a prescription refill, the receptionist will have a nurse contact you to discuss your prescription refill.
• Cancellation of an appointment for established patients require 24 hour notice.
• All New Patients must give 48 hours’ notice if needing to cancel or reschedule the appointment or will forfeit the New Patient Deposit.
• Established patients that reschedule within 24 hours of appointment or No-show may be billed a fee. Following three (3) “No-show” appointment cancellations you may not be allowed to reschedule another appointment.

Note: Pain medications cannot be called in, so it is imperative to keep scheduled appointments.

If you require a work excuse, please ask for it at the time of your appointment. Work excuses are only allowed for the same day of a scheduled appointment or procedure.

Our office will not initiate long-term disability. Our requirements for the completion of disability forms or letters are listed below:

• The office will consider continuance of disability forms, first initiated by another provider, subject to review and decided upon by a case-by-case basis.
• There will be a charge that must be paid prior to the completion of the form/letter. The charge for most forms is $25.00.
• Ten (10) to fourteen (14) working days will be required for the completion of the form/letter.
• The completion of some forms/letters may require an office visit if additional assessment is required.

We reserve the right to refuse to complete a form if it requests information that we do not have as part of your treatment plan.

Patients must fill out patient information forms prior to seeing the provider. You are responsible for providing our office with up-to-date insurance and personal information. You must bring your insurance card and photo I.D. with you to every visit, as well as any authorization information your insurance may require. Policies change frequently and we must have these to identify correct claims processing and avoid possible payment delays from your insurance payer. Without these, you may be asked to reschedule.

For your convenience, we accept cash, checks, and most major credit cards. Please note that there is a $35.00 service charge for all returned checks and, if a check is returned for insufficient funds, the practice will no longer accept checks for payment from the individual.

COPAY/DEDUCTIBLE/CO-INSURANCE: We will collect your deductible, co-pay, uncovered services or the percent you are responsible for at the time of your visit. Please be prepared to pay at the time of check-in before you are seen by the provider. If you do not have your payment, you may be asked to reschedule. It is the patient’s responsibility to know the terms of their insurance plan.  If your insurance leaves a balance for patient responsibility or denies payment on your account, you will be mailed a statement. You may also pay your bill online through your patient portal. If your insurance company denies payment of your claim, contact your insurance company directly.

Please be advised, our office can only accept Medicaid if it is secondary to another insurance payer. Patients that become Medicaid-only will have to contact their Medicaid representatives to locate a new provider to transition care to. Because Medicaid consists of several different health plans you MUST present the card associated with your specific plan at every visit.

WORK INJURIES: It is the responsibility of the patient to notify us of the insurance company address, claim, phone number, contact person, and date of injury. Until we have complete verification from your carrier, you will be responsible for all charges. Your individual health plan information will also be obtained but only used in the event your workers’ compensation case is denied.

AUTO/PERSONAL INJURIES: Complete information, including claim number, mailing address, contact name, and telephone number, is needed at or before your initial visit. Your individual health plan information will be obtained and used in the event your claim is denied.

In accordance with AMA CPT guidelines, we reserve the right to charge for telephone calls with our medical professionals that include evaluation and management of your medical condition. We will bill your insurance for such calls, but if it is not covered by your plan, you may be responsible for the charges. Additionally, any services performed in a location other than our clinic are subject to additional charges. You will be billed separately for those services.

This category includes patients who have an insurance plan with which we do not participate or lose their health insurance and are in the process of obtaining new coverage. To become self-pay the patient account will be reviewed and must be approved by management. If you have insurance coverage, but do not want our office to bill your payer, you will be asked to sign a Self-pay Election Form. A Good Faith Estimate for visits and receipt will be provided.

Should you need to cancel or change your office visit appointment we require 24 hours’ notice or you may be subject to a fee. By signing below, you agree that you are financially responsible for any charges incurred for missed appointments in which the required advanced notice was not given. Refer to General Office Policy for more details on Appointments.

If you do not pay in a timely fashion, your account may be placed into Bad Debt status and no appointments will be scheduled until paid in full. If you fail to meet the financial obligations agreed upon in this financial policy or have not made other payment arrangements with our billing department, your outstanding balance may be sent to a collection agency. You will be required to pay your entire balance before being scheduled for any future appointments. We understand that there may be times and circumstances that come up where you are unable to pay your entire bill. In these situations, it is very important that you contact our billing office at (318) 797-5848 option 4 so a financial representative can assist you in setting up a reasonable payment plan and to keep your account in good standing. The provider and/or practice manager must approve payment plans and discounts. Payment arrangements are understood and agreed upon by the patient and provider prior to services being rendered.