May 20, 2024
To all my valued patients,
As you may already know, I have begun to implement an administration fee into my practice. I could choose to do an annual fee, like so many of your other physicians, or a per visit fee. With a great deal of thought, I have decided to do a per visit fee.
Starting June 1, 2024 there will be a $75 administration fee per patient per medical, non surgical visit. This will be in addition to your co-pay and any other balance that you may owe after your insurance has processed the claim.
I have struggled with this decision but decided that this is more fair than completely ceasing to take insurance, which would have been a huge burden for my patients.
Over the past few years, insurance companies have not increased their reimbursements to the physicians, but rather have decreased reimbursements to us, for giving you the high quality care that I know I provide. This is in addition to the environment of increasing costs for supplies, labor, technology...virtually everything that goes into making your medical visit thorough and the most high quality dermatology care you have come to expect.
These low reimbursements have made it almost impossible to accept insurance and practice medicine in a private practice setting. However, even in this difficult landscape, I will continue to accept insurance and I will continue to have my staff go above and beyond for you at every step of the way. To correct for this massive mismatch, I have decided to administer this fee.
The administration fee of $75 per visit will cover many extra services that we provide, such as:
- Longer medical appointments with me, when appropriate
- Possible same day/week appointments with me
- After hours and weekend messaging with me on HIPAA compliant Klara, when appropriate
- Your full dermatology care coordination including time spent messaging you and your physicians, phone calls, prescription dilemmas, and all the behind the scenes care we do for you
For now, I will be the only provider in the office charging $75. If you have difficulty with this, please know that my Physician Associates (PAs) who are all certified, qualified, and have been trained by me, will give you the same quality of care and will not be requiring the $75 per visit fee. You can confidently see them anytime.
This fee applies to all patients who will use their insurance for their medical visits including Medicare. This fee will not be charged to you if we do not bill your insurance, or if you are a private pay patient. This does not apply to cosmetic visits.
After 22 years of practicing medicine I am more energized than ever to continue to provide you with the most advanced dermatological care you deserve.
Thank you for your attention,
Vicki Rapaport, MD
