General Policies

General Internal Medicine Group (GIMG) wants our patients to be informed about our policies, procedures and special services for our patients. Please visit our web site at www.gimg.com for more detailed information about our practice.

TELEPHONES AND COMMUNICATION WITH MEDICAL PROVIDERS

Our usual telephone hours are 9-1 and 2-5 Monday through Friday. There is a physician on call for MEDICAL EMERGENCIES at all other times by simply calling the office telephone number and following the instructions. Life threatening emergencies should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

PHYSICIAN CALL TIME

We know that sometimes you will need to talk to your medical provider on the phone. GIMG offers 8-8:45 call in time daily for patients to speak to their provider. During this time the providers answer calls from their patients who have simple questions about any topics or to determine if a visit to the office is necessary. Your provider can give you the schedule of days he/she is available for call time or you can check our web site.

MISSED APPOINTMENTS

Unless cancelled 24 hours in advance, our policy is to charge for missed appointments at the rate of the office visit.

REGARDING INSURANCE, COPAYS AND REFERRALS

Patients are responsible to understand their insurance plan and what it covers. Patients are expected to pay all co-pays at the time of service. If your visit with GIMG requires a referral, it is the patient's responsibility to bring the referral at the time of the visit. Failure to provide an appropriate referral will result in the patient being billed for the visit. The office will not obtain referrals on your behalf, as this is the responsibility of the patient. If you need a referral from GIMG for a specialist, x-rays or other procedures, the usual processing time is 5 business days. If the medical provider determines referral is for an urgent medical condition, the referral will be done immediately.

POLICY FOR HEALTH RECORD RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION

General Internal Medicine complies with the Virginia State Laws and all applicable Federal law regarding retention of patient records. All patient records are kept at least six years following the last patient encounter, unless one of the Virginia Law exceptions applies (for example, the records of minor patients may have to be kept longer than 6 years, depending on the patient's age and last date of treatment).

Paper records are destroyed in a manner that fully protects patient confidentiality. They are incinerated. Electronic records may be destroyed by methods that make them completely unretrievable, unreadable or by destruction of the storage media.

OTHER SERVICES

In order to better serve our patient's medical needs, General Internal Medical Group (GIMG) provides certain additional services that are not covered under the terms of your health plan. The current schedule of charges for such services is set forth below and your signature indicates your understanding that (1) your health plan does not cover such services, (2) you are assuming financial responsibility for any of these services that you request, and (3) you are agreeing not to submit a bill for these services to any health plan, insurer or payer, including Medicare.

Prescriptions and refills requested and filled other than at the time of an office visit (i.e. by phone, fax, mail, picked up at office or electronic means)

GIMG reserves the right to periodically modify the charges for these services. A current schedule of services and charges is available from our offices.