Laurel J. Schramm, M.D.
Pediatrics 323-965-1616
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Financial Policies
Effective September 1st, 2019
Our goal is to take care of your children with kindness, knowledge, and availability. In order to continue to provide high-quality care, we are implementing an administrative fee that covers many of the important services we spend time and money on, but insurances do not cover. Many physicians charge individual fees for these services, but we feel it is easier to include them all in a single fee.
This annual administrative charge includes the following:
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24/7 access to a board-certified pediatrician for telephone consultation
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use of our website portal for requesting appointments and refills, reviewing your child’s medical record, printing vaccine records from home and non-urgent messaging with the doctor
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online access to developmental questionnaires which can be done with your child at home
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convenient e-prescriptions
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completion of school and camp forms within 5 days
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completion of additional forms such as FMLA, life insurance and entertainment permits
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new immersive virtual reality goggles for distraction during vaccines
Administrative Fee
How it Works:
The fee is $150 for 12 months per family and is due yearly or within 30 days of your first visit for new patients. If the fee is difficult for your family, we will work with you so that you can remain in our practice.
We will ask for a credit or debit card to be on file with our office. With the changing healthcare environment, more responsibility for payment is being placed on the patient. Unfortunately, not all balances are being paid in a timely manner. By streamlining the billing process, we will be able to eliminate the expenses related to handling overdue accounts and focus our time and energy on your children and their medical care.
It also erases one more task on your home to-do list!
You will be asked for your credit card at the time of check-in or you can call our office to give your credit card information. The information will be securely stored by our health care credit card merchant, Instamed.
As always, we will bill your insurance for the visit. When the charges have been processed and we receive the Explanation Of Benefits (EOB), we will charge your credit card for the amount the insurance has determined is patient responsibility.
If the amount exceeds $100 we will call to get your authorization either to charge the balance immediately or to work out a payment schedule. If we are unable to reach you within 3 business days we will assume you wish to start a payment plan of $100/month.