Guidelines for patients whose healthcare insurance requires a referral, issued by their primary care physician, in order to be treated by The Asthma Center specialist.

Your healthcare insurance requires that you have a valid referral for each and every office visit and procedure, which in turn, gives our group authorization to provide these services. Your primary care physician is the only one who may issue a referral.

It is advisable to obtain your referral well in advance of your office visit with The Asthma Center specialist. ATTEMPTING TO GET A PROPER REFERRAL ON THE DAY OF YOUR VISIT IS USUALLY UNSUCCESSFUL.

It is the patient’s responsibility to review his/her referral prior to the office visit to verify that the referral has been properly completed, is valid and lists all the proper procedures (i.e. spirometry, skin testing, allergy injection, etc.). If your primary care physician faxes a referral to us, it would be wise to obtain and review a photocopy of their fax prior to your visit. If electronic referrals are used, please review with your primary care physician’s office staff specifically what services have been requested. IF YOUR REFERRAL IS ISSUED ELECTRONICALLY OR SENT BY FAX, YOU MUST CONTACT OUR OFFICE AND LET US KNOW SO THAT WE HAVE PROPER AUTHORIZATION FOR YOUR VISIT.

Patients arriving at our office without the proper referral will be offered the following options:
a) Reschedule the office visit.
b) Accept financial responsibility for the office visit and/or specific procedure not listed by signing our “financial responsibility form.” Then the patient may be seen by the doctor.
c) You may use our telephone to call your primary physician in order to request an immediate referral by fax (urgent cases only). This usually is time consuming and unsuccessful since your primary care physician may not be available at the time of your visit or may require advance notice for referrals.

In order to avoid referral problems, it is wise to understand the referral process:
a) Know what must be specified on your referral by checking The Asthma Center request sheet given to you at the end of each visit and reviewing with The Asthma Center specialist what is planned for your next visit.
b) Personally verify that all of your necessary procedures are actually specified on the referral.
c) Check the referral date to be sure it has not expired prior to your next office visit.
d) Obtain the referral at least one week prior to your visit.
e) Keep a copy of your referral with multiple visits until the last one has been used.

We have tried to make the referral process as “user-friendly” as possible. Please do not be upset or angry with our office if you meet frustration with your healthcare insurance referral policy. We are simply following the procedures with your medical insurance has set for your healthcare and for which you have contracted.