Policies

PLEASE READ AND KEEP HANDY AS YOUR REFERENCE

Location
712 Oaklawn Avenue
Cranston, RI 02920
Office: 401-942-2320
Fax: 401-942-2375

A Map to Dr Hayden’s Office

Office Hours
Monday 7:30-11:00 am 12:45-4:30 pm
Tuesday 7:30-11:00 am 12:45-4:30 pm
Wednesday 7:30-11:00 am 12:45-2:00 pm
Thursday 7:30-11:00 am 12:45-4:30 pm
Friday 7:30-11:00 am

Billing policies

Payment Policies
Co-payment is required at the time of service. This cannot be waived under any circumstances.
Your insurance plan requires you to pay the deductible or co-pay at the time of the visit.
This office does not accept post-dated checks for co-payments or deductibles.

Fees for Forms
These costs are not covered under your insurance. Please see the Fees for Completion of Common Forms and Documents webpage.
All Health Insurance Company and HMO-related forms and documents are covered.
These costs are necessary to cover items such as physician and nurse chart review, physician's time for completion of forms, nurse's time, clerical time (chart retrieval and filing), copying and mailing costs, and other office-related costs required to complete the various forms.

Fees for letters to lawyers and insurance companies are not covered under your health insurance benefits.

Forms and Information
There is a wealth of information and forms on this website.
You may also complete a detailed questionairre regarding your symptoms and send it to our office electronically through Relay Health.
If you cannot find what you need anywhere on our site, or that of Relay Health, please bring this to our attention.

Record Copying Costs
Legislation has been enacted that limits physicians to charging certain amounts when copying patient records. This office will abide by that statute. Therefore, whenever records are requested, there will be a charge. Please contact the secretary to discuss specific costs.

Missed Visits
You must give 24 hours notice to cancel a visit. We have a twenty-four hour answering service.
Our policy is to charge $82 after the second missed visit/appointment within 365 days (an appointment not canceled more than 24 hours before the visit).
This will be your responsibility and billed directly to you. No further visits will be scheduled until this payment is made.

We reserve the right to dismiss you from the practice for more frequent missed appointments. We will continue emergency and ongoing care for a 30 day period to allow you to secure an appointment with another physician. We will send your records promptly when requested.

Please help us to serve you better by keeping your regularly scheduled appointment or contacting us in advance that we may schedule other patients.

We make every attempt to confirm your visit 48 hours in advance with a service, so please check your telephone answering device if you have not heard the message personally. Family members also forget about calls, so please check with them about possible missed messages.

We will make every attempt to accommodate your needs and reschedule you as soon as possible.

Finally, please have some consideration for other patients. We get many calls daily from our patients who would like to be seen that day. We do our best to accommodate them. If you know in advance that you cannot make it, please contact the office, so we can then schedule other patients in that time period.

Late for Office Visit
This office reserves the right to defer any non-emergency treatment for any individual who may arrive more than 15 minutes late for their appointment. Dr. Hayden usually runs very close to schedule, and this causes problems with other patients who are on-time.

Since this is a constant and growing problem, he has been rescheduling late patients more frequently.

Please contact our office if you are running late, caught in traffic, etc. We will be happy to reschedule your visit to a time that is more convenient for you.

After Hours Calls
Telecare Associates is a triage answering service providing after hours coverage for many issues. They do not prescribe treatment or medications. For moderate to serious issues, they will refer you to the nearest treatment center or emergency room.

NOTE: I have provided comprehensive coverage of common treatments, categories of conditions, and specific links on this website. Many of your questions can be answered in this manner.

In addition to this, Relay Health (see home page) is a good source of up-to-date information on many illnesses. You may leave messages on the Relay Health site and Dr. Hayden will return a response within 48 business hours.

Dr. Hayden, or his coverage physician, will not call in a medication after hours or on weekends and will generally advise you to go to an emergency room or treatment center for proper examination, testing, and diagnosis of your condition.

Any calls made to the triage service or to Dr Hayden, emergency room or treatment center visits made after hours, weekends or holidays requires an office visit the next business day to ensure proper followup of your diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Hayden hopes that his patients will feel this way as well.

This office does not participate in "telephone medicine" and prefers to carefully examine all of our sick patients. We hope that you feel this way as well.

No ongoing medications will be called in after hours (nights, weekends), as coverage physicians do not have access to the patient's chart.
It is the patient's responsibility to ensure enough medication is available for weekends, holidays, vacations, etc.

If you call the office during regular business hours, we will ask you to come in to be examined, either that day, or early the next day, as your illness and our schedule allows.

If we are not available, you are advised to go to the nearest treatment center or emergency room, as your insurance allows, for examination of your illness.

Keep in mind that some insurance companies require pre-approval, and if our office is not notified in advance, or within 24 hours of your visit, pre-approval cannot be given.

Telephone Calls
It is impossible to give my undivided attention to my patients during their examination and try to answer phone questions as well. We make every effort to answer calls expediently, with little patient disruption.

Please be aware that detailed conversations will not be conducted over the phone, for many reasons, especially HIPAA.

Most questions usually require diagrams and models that are available only in the office. Therefore, in most cases, we will ask you to schedule an office visit to give you the time needed to answer all of your questions.

If you have an urgent problem, please make that known to my staff immediately, in order that they may schedule you as early as possible. We can handle many urgent problems in the office;
however, there are many problems that are best treated in the emergency room. Please let us know the full range of problems that you may be having, so that we may determine your best source of treatment.

Finally, please do not try to have us diagnose your illness over the telephone. We are unable to diagnose or treat illnesses over the phone. We will schedule you for a sick visit that day, or very early the next day, if necessary.

Referrals
You are required by your insurance company to know how referrals to specialists are handled.

You should also know your copayment, and be aware of your rights (eg Advance Beneficiary Notice).

Self-referrals are not always allowed by insurance companies. You are free to go to the specialist of your choice, but may be responsible for most, if not all, of the costs of the visit and testing, if done.

No referrals will be made for patients that have not been examined for the condition for which they are seeking referral.
OTHER GUIDELINES
1. Please note that if you have not been seen in over 6 months, continuing or new referrals will not be made. We (and your insurance company) require that the specialist send documentation of the need for the referral (and why it cannot be handled by the primary care physician).
2. Insurance companies require the primary care physician to make the referral to the specialist, when indicated. Therefore, you must be examined in the office to determine the need for referral, and the most appropriate specialist. If in doubt, please call our office.
3. Please be aware that you may be responsible, however, if the specialist you are sent to, in turn, sends you to another specialist. Please let us know before this happens, it could save you a lot of time and money.
4. No “Back-dated” referrals will be given.
5. Remember also, that the primary care physician is never under any obligation to approve any referral, especially one that is attempted to be "back-dated" by specialists, etc.
6. We will approve “second opinions” for surgery and other procedures if you are not satisfied with the opinion or plan of the surgeon/specialist that we have sent you to. You may want to contact your insurance company BEFORE you proceed to a second opinion.
7. The patient is responsible to obtain the referral information if you have gone to a specialist without prior notification to our office. You should contact your insurer to discuss your self-referral.
8. Many insurance companies ask that you meet your primary care physician at least once, especially if you have the need to discuss any potential referrals.
9. Please be aware that all board-certified family physicians are well qualified to handle many problem areas in medicine today, and generally will take over care once the patient has been seen by the specialist.
10. Any referrals to specialists will be made as the need arises.

Medications and Refills
1. These are filled during office hours only.
2. It is always a good idea to have an updated list of all your meds(including OTC) available at all times.
3. The office policy regarding refills is the following:
If you have not been seen in six months for most all conditions and their appropriate medications, an office follow-up visit will be required.
We will not honor requests if you have not been examined in over 6 months. We hope you feel, as we do, that taking a medication or medications requires close supervison and careful monitoring by your physician.
4. Please plan to have your medication bottles and/or list of meds (with # of refills) so that we may electronically submit the renewals to your pharmacy during your regular followup visits.
5. You may send the request through Relay Health prior to your visit, OR contact your pharmacist who may send the request through ON-CALL DATA, our prescription service.
6. Some conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes, and depression require office visits every three to four months.
7. Pain medication refills for patients not seen within the previous three months will not be honored.
8. We are under no obligation to continue refilling your medication if you do not come in for regular examinations for the condition(s) for which you are receiving the medication(s).
9. We do not have access, nor do our coverage physicians, to your record on weekends and holidays. You may send the request for renewal through Relay Health, with a 48 hour turnaround.
10. Please keep track of your supply and contact us during business hours, we will call in your refill promptly.

Cell Phones
Cell phones are not allowed in the examination room. The examination/visit will be completed at a later date if you feel you need to answer your cell phone or beeper during your visit. Dr. Hayden WILL NOT wait for you to complete your call while keeping other patients waiting. If you feel you need to conduct business or carry on conversations of a personal nature, you will be allowed to reschedule your visit.

Hospital Coverage
Dr. Hayden does not actively follow patients in the hospital(s). At any given time, he may have patients in three or more hospitals. Therefore, you will be under the care of Hospitalists who specialize in the care of patients in the hospital. The Internal Medicine Inpatient Service (IMIS) is the name of the group that provides coverage at Rhode Island Hospital. Dr. Hayden is usually in contact with the hospitalist on admission and discharge, and the patient is returned to his care after discharge.

Your First Visit
Please download Initial History Form and plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to your first visit. Please provide us with the correct, up-to-date billing information and your credit or debit card for any deductibles to make the process easier. This is also your opportunity to ask any billing questions and any other special needs that you may have.

It will also be necessary to have your list of medications on hand, as well as medication allergies, so that we may enter them into your record.
Any significant medical and/or surgical conditions will be discussed as well.

During the examination, please do not hesitate to bring any suspicious moles, skin conditions, or other problems to my attention.

Follow Up Visits
Please download and complete the followup visit form to ensure that we cover all issues at the time of your visit.

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	- Spring 2008 -