Lowcountry Psychiatric Associates
General Psychiatry & Psychotherapy
Office 843-757-4737
Fax 843-757-4585
Contact Us
Mailing address for all correspondence, payments, etc:
Lowcountry Psychiatric Associates
25 Clarks Summit Drive
Suite F201
Bluffton, SC 29910
Office Hours
Monday - Thursday 8:30am to 4:00pm
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday CLOSED
OFFICE POLICIES
~ Financial Policy ~
Patients of Dr. Walters & Dr. Ford & Leah Carter-Lafountain, NP
- Payment is due at time of service by cash, check, money order, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express.
Services provided to you by Richard Ford, M.D., Joseph Walters, M.D. and Leah Carter-Lafountain, NP are private fee for services. They do NOT accept any insurance or file insurance claims. Elimination of insurance obligations has allowed these two providers to provide high-quality services that are tailored to your personal needs, not insurance company demands. Therefore, you will need to pay out-of-pocket at the time of service. However, we will provide the necessary paperwork for you to file your insurance (except for Medicare), upon request.
- PATIENTS with Medicare Insurance: If you are eligible for Medicare or are presently receiving Medicare medical benefits, please be aware that Dr. Walters and Dr. Ford have opted out of Medicare. *This means that you will not be able to send our statements to Medicare for reimbursement.*
~ Financial Policy ~
Patients of Vicki Bonnell, LISW
Patients without Insurance
- Payment is due at time of service by cash, check, money order, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express.
Patients with Insurance
- Patients are responsible for their co-payments and/or deductibles at the time services are rendered.
- Your insurance policy is a contract between you and your insurance company. While we do all we can to help our patients in communicating and negotiating with their insurance plan or other persons, we must inform patients that have questions regarding coverage, benefits, or payment for services provided....that it is their responsibility to resolve such issues.
- In the event of denials, errors, or non-covered services, the patient is responsible for all services rendered. If payment from your insurance carrier is not received within forty-five (45) days, we will seek full payment from you. Balance of services that are delayed or denied by your insurance company due to Coordination of Benefits information will become your responsibility after thirty (30) days.
- Lowcountry Psychiatric Associates does not guarantee that payment will be authorized for medical services; therefore, this office is not responsible for any adverse payment decisions or misuse of information.
- Notification of any change in your insurance status (i.e. new company, deductible, co-pay amounts) must be provided to the office 72 business hours in advance of next visit, or payment in full will be required.
Miscellaneous Charges/Fees
- Fees apply for copy of medical records and may take up to 15 business days to obtain.
- After-hour calls are subject to charges at the providers discretion.
- We charge for patient reports/letters. Report preparation fees are based on the time involved and are in accordance with our normal hourly rates (examples: letters for court, school/work, etc). These are billed directly to the patient and not the insurance.
- Any returned checks are subject to a $30 service fee. Any returned check must be resolved before any future appointments can be arranged.
- Medications needed as a same day refill will be charged a minimum of $25.
- Lowcountry Psychiatric Associates contracts with a collection agency to collect delinquent accounts (over 90 days). Once an account is placed in collection, the patient must deal directly with our collection agency for payment of the account. In the event of account placement, the applicable collection fees will be added to that account.
Cancellation Policy
Our practice sees scheduled patients only; therefore, we will do everything we can to keep your scheduled time and not keep you waiting for your appointment. You will be charged the FULL cost of your scheduled appointment if you cancel less than 24 hours or do not show for the appointment.
Please note that these charges cannot be billed to your insurance company.
TEXT MESSAGE REMINDERS: As a courtesy to our patients, we try to provide text message reminders for appointments. However, we are not able to guarantee this service and you can only CONFIRM the appointments via text message. You MUST call the office to cancel or reschedule to avoid being charged for a missed appointment. Patients are responsible for recording and keeping scheduled appointments.
Emergency Situations
- For urgent matters when the office is closed please call the office and choose the correct option for your provider to reach their after hour line.
- In an emergency, call 911 or go directly to the nearest emergency room.
Red Flag Policy
- Lowcountry Psychiatric Associates must collect and store our patients’ private medical, financial, and personally identifying data. We must therefore be vigilant in protecting the patient information to which we have access including medical, financial, and any other personal information contained in Lowcountry Psychiatric Associates' medical, appointment, or billing records.
- You must present, if asked, a valid state issued photo identification card prior to being seen at each appointment.