Finances and Office Matters

No. I do not accept any insurance payments as fee for my services. My agreement to treat you as a homeopathic physician is between me and my patients. If you have chosen to contract with an insurance company to reimburse you for certain medical expenses, then it is likely that you will be able to secure reimbursement for the services that I provide. I am Licensed to practice Medicine in the State of New York, and my credentials as a physician are acceptable to the insurance carriers that reimburse on this basis.

I will work hard with you to secure the reimbursement that you have contracted for. To assist you in this process my office uses standard CPT codes and ICD-9 procedural codes whenever I bill for service.

I do not accept or participate in ANY insurance companies. No medicare. No medicaid.

I do generate receipts that allow for easy submission to these companies (but never for medicare/medicaid) for reimbursement.

Patients who see me who have medicare are required, by law, to review and sign what is known as an “opt out agreement” that stipulates that they do understand that I do not participate and that there is no way that they will be reimbursed by medicare for their expenses in seeing me. Supplemental insurance may still pay.

I spend 2 hours with most adults on their first visit.

I spend 90 minutes with adolescents on 1st visit and 60 minutes with children. These visits are prorated accordingly.

Follow up visits are very important. They generally run 30 – 60 minutes (children almost always 30 and some adults also, but many adults are 60 because of the nature of the problem and the need to discuss interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to their particular situation. Counseling on lifestyle issues, diet, nutrition, stress reduction, meditation, yoga, etc., etc. is an ongoing process and requires revisiting.)

Medicine cost is usually factored into each visit. Sometimes the medicine that I require is in my office. At other times I might write a prescription for it, and sometimes I will mail it from Rhinebeck. If I do bill for medicines (this might be the case if it is the result of a telephone call) then the fees are always reasonable for a supply that usually lasts several months or more.

Yes. My office requires you to review and agree to a “Consent for Homeopathy” form (see “contact us”, forms section) before receiving homeopathic treatment. This form clarifies several issues around expectations and intent. It explains that the purpose of our consultation is homeopathic care and it reminds you that I am not replacing your primary care physician. My liability insurance company also stipulates that you sign an “Arbitration Agreement” form that clarifies malpractice expectations and formally inserts an agreement to arbitrate all claims with a neutral mediator. This form is reviewed at the time of our office visit and is available through my receptionist.

Generally, the answer to this question is: “No,” but there may be exceptions. Most of my routine telephone calls may be to follow -up on a particular concern or to discuss an acute condition that may have arisen . In the course of a telephone conversation I may recommend that the conversation might be more appropriately handled in an office visit. But in many cases the telephone works fine. There is usually no charge for this time unless the telephone conversation is really in-lieu of an office visit and extensive questioning, diagnostic and repertorization for a remedy is required. If this is the case then charges are similar to those applied to my time spent in the office together.

This is a question that I would prefer not to post on this web site. Please contact my office receptionist at (845) 876-6323 if you are seriously considering a visit to my office.

Absolutely. Email tends to be a slower form of communication, in my case, because I tend to give priority to those who visit my office and telephone me, but it is generally a sure way of updating me on your condition and providing me with data in your case that can then be printed and filed in your medical chart. Email may take several days and often up to a week to generate a response from me, so it is not a fast way to get information from me (office visits and telephone calls work best here) but it is an excellent way of feeding me information about you.