How do I know if you take my insurance?
Beaird Dermatology is contracted with most of the major insurance carriers, Medicare, BCBS, United Healthcare, Cigna and Humana. There are many different plans within these insurance companies, so we always recommend checking with your specific plan to verify that we are a contracted provider.
What is a deductible?
A deductible is the amount you pay for covered health care services before your insurance plan starts to pay. With a $2,000 deductible, for example, you pay the first $2,000 of covered services yourself. With it being a new year, most insurance plan deductibles reset but there are some unique plans that change mid-year.
What’s the difference between HMO and PPO plans?
To start, HMO stands for Health Maintenance Organization and the coverage restricts patients to a particular group of physicians called a network. PPO is short for Preferred Provider Organization and allows patients to choose any physician they wish, either inside or outside of their network.
To break it down a little further, HMO plans require patients to first see their primary care physicians (PCP) first for treatment and if necessary, they will refer you to an in-network specialist by providing you a referral. Without a referral, your HMO is unlikely to cover services and the financial responsibility would be yours.
With a PPO, you may be able to visit a provider outside of your network and still get SOME coverage, but not as much as you would if you remained in your network.
If I have an HMO will you call to get a referral for me?
If you have an HMO, obtaining referrals is the patient’s responsibility to obtain. We are able to accept referrals by fax or if the patient has the referral they can also text that to us in our secure texting platform.