Becoming a New Patient
Want to be a patient at Carolina Headache Institute? Follow the steps below to expedite your appointment.
Step 1: A referral from your physician is required. We accept referrals from all Providers preferably one who has been treating you for headaches. Self-referrals will not be considered. Download the “New Patient Referral Form” (below) and present this to your provider to fill out. Demographics and Clinical Records must be included in the referral.
| 2023 Referral Form.pdf |
Step 2: Once a referral is received, our physicians review your information to ensure we match you with the provider most suited to your needs.
Step 3: You will receive a call from the office confirming your referral status and informing you of your provider. At this time, we will arrange for you to receive a new patient packet.
Step 4: Once you receive the packet, you must fill it out completely and return it to us via e-mail, fax, mail, or in-person.
Tip: The sooner we receive your packet the sooner we schedule your appointment.
* Insurance Comment: Our Billing department cannot with 100% certainty relay the insurance status of CHI as in or out-of-network to avoid liability. It is solely patient responsibility to obtain insurance authorizations, speak directly to insurance to ensure network status and to be aware of possible patient responsibility (deductible, co-insurance %'s, etc). After you speak with insurance if you have further questions please do not hesitate to reach out to Billing (option 6).
Tip: The sooner we receive your packet the sooner we schedule your appointment.
* Insurance Comment: Our Billing department cannot with 100% certainty relay the insurance status of CHI as in or out-of-network to avoid liability. It is solely patient responsibility to obtain insurance authorizations, speak directly to insurance to ensure network status and to be aware of possible patient responsibility (deductible, co-insurance %'s, etc). After you speak with insurance if you have further questions please do not hesitate to reach out to Billing (option 6).
Step 5: Once your packet is returned we log the information in our system and then we will contact you to schedule your new patient visit with the provider you have been assigned to.
We will do our best to accommodate your individual needs but due to high demand, it may take several months to be seen.
Repeated calls to the office about the status of your referral will only delay the process.
Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to serving you.
Repeated calls to the office about the status of your referral will only delay the process.
Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to serving you.
Our New Patient Coordinator currently works remotely full-time. At this time the New Patient Coordinator can only contact you via blocked phone number, therefore if you know your phone blocks blocked phone numbers please contact the Front Desk for further assistance.
*Typical New Patient billing questions/issues addressed below. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the New Patient Coordinators line via phone at 919-942-4424 > ext 107.
Network Status and Benefits
Please know it is patient responsibility to ensure network status and benefits directly with insurance. Anything we relay is not with a 100% guarantee. Although we try to provide a courtesy when we notice things such as out-of-network status, patients are ultimately responsible for confirming this information with insurance before services are rendered.
When checking with insurance, please see the providers NPIs below:
Dr. Kahn 1013088350
Dr. Finkel 1114098530
Dr. Pajeau 1336133297
Ms. Rothman 1528507704
Ms. Barham 1396113296
*TIP - When an insurance representative is being unhelpful, they will say to check with the providers office, that is not an acceptable answer. The insurance plan is able and responsible for confirming benefits with a customer, they are the only ones that can guarantee such information for your specific benefit plan.
Discussion time of visits
For New Patient appointments and Follow Up visits, we bill based on discussion time of appointments. Keep in mind New Patient appointments typically run anywhere from 1-2 hours, where some circumstances are less or more. Knowing your benefits is your patient responsibility and you should anticipate general billing based on this information.
New Patient Billing Codes
99202-99205 [15-74 minutes]
99417/G2212 [each unit of this code is an additional 15 minutes]
Phreesia Charge (Code 96136)
Since Carolina Headache Institute became a Private Practice, we implemented a check-in questionnaire that is deemed a requirement by the Partners of the Practice. The questionnaire includes things such as headache days data, sleep worthiness, phq-9, etc. Per the Partners these reports are necessary for every appointment and since these reports justify the ability to bill 96136 (Phreesia), that is why it is on your claim(s). Since we bill visits based on discussion time of appointments, the questionnaire saves the provider/patient the time it would take to collect this data during a visit and allows more time for patients to discuss their care. These reports are also extremely useful and beneficial to have in case of prior authorizations for medications/outbound referrals/testing/etc. The way in which 96136 is processed by every insurance is different, but in most cases, it is a covered code. If the code is non-covered and insurance deems the code is not billable to the patient, the code will be adjusted.
*Typical New Patient billing questions/issues addressed below. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the New Patient Coordinators line via phone at 919-942-4424 > ext 107.
Network Status and Benefits
Please know it is patient responsibility to ensure network status and benefits directly with insurance. Anything we relay is not with a 100% guarantee. Although we try to provide a courtesy when we notice things such as out-of-network status, patients are ultimately responsible for confirming this information with insurance before services are rendered.
When checking with insurance, please see the providers NPIs below:
Dr. Kahn 1013088350
Dr. Finkel 1114098530
Dr. Pajeau 1336133297
Ms. Rothman 1528507704
Ms. Barham 1396113296
*TIP - When an insurance representative is being unhelpful, they will say to check with the providers office, that is not an acceptable answer. The insurance plan is able and responsible for confirming benefits with a customer, they are the only ones that can guarantee such information for your specific benefit plan.
Discussion time of visits
For New Patient appointments and Follow Up visits, we bill based on discussion time of appointments. Keep in mind New Patient appointments typically run anywhere from 1-2 hours, where some circumstances are less or more. Knowing your benefits is your patient responsibility and you should anticipate general billing based on this information.
New Patient Billing Codes
99202-99205 [15-74 minutes]
99417/G2212 [each unit of this code is an additional 15 minutes]
Phreesia Charge (Code 96136)
Since Carolina Headache Institute became a Private Practice, we implemented a check-in questionnaire that is deemed a requirement by the Partners of the Practice. The questionnaire includes things such as headache days data, sleep worthiness, phq-9, etc. Per the Partners these reports are necessary for every appointment and since these reports justify the ability to bill 96136 (Phreesia), that is why it is on your claim(s). Since we bill visits based on discussion time of appointments, the questionnaire saves the provider/patient the time it would take to collect this data during a visit and allows more time for patients to discuss their care. These reports are also extremely useful and beneficial to have in case of prior authorizations for medications/outbound referrals/testing/etc. The way in which 96136 is processed by every insurance is different, but in most cases, it is a covered code. If the code is non-covered and insurance deems the code is not billable to the patient, the code will be adjusted.