General Information
Consultations
Consultations are visits to talk about the patient’s condition. The entire consultation fee is applied to surgery if surgery is completed in a timely manner (see below). If a patient has a consultation and never has surgery or surgery is not recommended, the patent is still charged for the consultation.
If a patient misses the deadline to apply the consultation fee to surgery, the consultation will not be refunded and the surgery will be charged at full price. Patients are encouraged to schedule surgery in a timely manner. We will not extend the deadline due to our schedule being full.
For example, extraction of 1 erupted tooth is $375. If a patient has a (routine) consultation visit first, the patient will be charged $200 at the time of consultation and $175 at the time of surgery if the surgery is completed within 3 months of the consultation. If the surgery is completed after 3 months, the patient will be charged the full $375 at the time of surgery. The $200 consultation fee will not be credited to surgery after 3 months.
Post-Operative Care
If a patient has surgery, routine postoperative care is included for a period of time and the patient is not billed for a post-operative visit during that time. The amount of time post-operative visits are included are listed on each surgery’s page. Routine post-operative care includes in-office x-rays, post-operative exam, suture removal, and treatment of minor wound complications.
Re-Evaluations
Re-evaluations are consultation visits for established patients last seen within 13 months to discuss their condition. Re-evaluations are not post-operative visits. Post-operative visits are described above.
X-Rays
In-office x-rays are included in each of these services if necessary. There is no discount for bringing or sending x-rays to info@RiverCityOMS.com, but doing so will decrease your radiation exposure. X-rays need to be clear & current to be useful. A photo of an x-ray on a computer screen or a worn paper copy is not usually good enough.
Fees
If a patient has a consultation or re-evaluation and never has surgery or surgery is not recommended, the patient is still charged for the consultation or re-evaluation.
Routine consultation: $200
This fee covers 1 visit. The entire fee is applied to surgery if surgery completed within 3 months. Routine consultations are consultations done in the office excluding trauma or orthognathic surgery consultations.
Trauma consultation: $500
The fee covers the consultation and any follow-up visits within 6 weeks. If the initial consultation was done in our office, the entire consultation fee is applied to surgery if surgery is needed & completed within 6 weeks. If the initial consultation was done at the hospital or outside our office, the consultation fee is not applied to surgery.
Orthognathic surgery consultation: $400
This fee covers 1 visit. Orthognathic surgery is jaw repositioning surgery. The entire fee is applied to surgery if surgery is needed & completed within 2 years.
Routine re-evaluation: $150
This fee covers 1 visit for re-evaluation of established patients seen in the last 13 months. If it has been more than 13 months since the last visit, a regular consultation fee is charged. The entire re-evaluation fee is applied to surgery if a new surgery is needed & completed within 3 months of the re-evaluation.
If the patient had a consultation, never had surgery, and requests another face-to-face consultation visit, they will be charged a $150 re-evaluation visit. In that case, the initial $200 consultation fee applies to surgery completed within 3 months of the initial consultation but the $150 re-evaluation fee would not be applied to surgery. To avoid paying the $150 re-evaluation fee in those cases, patients are encouraged to have their questions answered over the phone or via email (no charge), rather than face-to-face.
Trauma re-evaluation: $150
After 6 weeks, trauma re-evaluations are $150 each and are not credited towards surgery. If it has been more than 13 months since the last visit, a regular consultation fee is charged.
Orthognathic surgery re-evaluation: $150
This fee covers 1 visit. Must have been seen within the last 3 years.
Hospital/ER consultation: $500
For any patient evaluated for a new problem in the hospital or ER. This fee is not applied to surgery. If one of our patients goes to the ER for a post-operative problem during their covered post-operative period and we come to see them, we do not charge this fee.
Hospital rounding fee: $250 per day