Patient Policies/FAQs
This information should answer patients’ most frequently asked questions.
Jump to an item below:
New Patients
Parking
Late Policy
Cancellation Policy
Phlebotomy Lab
Animals
Scents
IVs & Allergy Testing
Supplement Sales
Lab & Test Results
Billing
Insurance
Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices
Use or Disclosure for Treatment
Use or Disclosure for Payment
Use or Disclosure for Operations
New Patients
If you are interested in becoming a new patient, we have staff ready to assist you in choosing a provider, answering any questions and getting you registered and scheduled. The dedicated phone line for new patients is 781-232-5420.
Please arrive a few minutes before your scheduled appointment time. This will allow you enough time to fill out our brief registration forms without delaying your appointment or those of the other patients.
If you are already in possession of your medical records, and if you think they will be relevant to your appointment, please feel free to bring them with you. Bringing these records is not necessary, however, as the doctors will tell you during your initial visit which records they will need from you.
Please be sure to bring your insurance card with you to your first appointment so that our administrative staff can enter your insurance information and obtain a photocopy of the card for our records.
Parking
Wellesley: There are a number of parking spaces on the side of the building near our front door. These spaces are marked specifically for Visions HealthCare patients. If these spaces are full, you may park in any of the unreserved spaces around the front of the building and in front of and to the right of The Wok restaurant. Do NOT park on Burke Lane, as the town will ticket and/or tow!
Dedham: We have a private parking lot available for patients.
Late Policy
Please arrive on time or a few minutes early to your appointment. Depending on the patient volume on any given day, if you are more than 15 minutes late the doctor may not be able to see you, and you may be charged a no-show fee.
If you know that you will be late to your appointment (if, for example, there is traffic), please call us at (781) 431-1333 to make us aware of the situation. Depending on the schedule that day, we will do everything in our power to make sure that the doctor will be able to see you.
Cancellation Policy
If you know that you will be unable to make an appointment, you must call us at least 24 hours prior to cancel or reschedule the appointment. Should you fail to provide us with 24 hour notice of your cancellation, you may be subject to a no-show fee. These fees vary by service.
Phlebotomy Lab
Visions HealthCare’s phlebotomy lab in our Wellesley facility is open for walk-in service between the hours of 12pm and 4pm Monday through Friday. Walk-in service does not apply to any appointments that require fasting or that will accompany a specialized kit. Should your doctor recommend that you have blood drawn for either of these tests, these appointments are scheduled between the hours of 8 and 11am, Monday through Thursday. Due to the increased time and paperwork involved with many of our laboratory tests, there may be a $15 handling fee associated with your blood draw.
Animals
Due to our specialization in allergy populations, and the number of patients who have severe allergies, Visions is a pet-free facility, with the exception of service dogs.
Scents
Due to the number of our patients who have chemical sensitivities, Visions is a scent-free facility. Please refrain from wearing any perfumes, scents or aftershaves to the office. We appreciate your cooperation in making this a chemical-free facility.
IVs & Allergy Testing
Please be aware that doctors’ orders are required for both IV therapy and allergy testing. Neither of these services may be scheduled without a doctor’s order.
Supplement Sales
Supplements may be purchased in person at Visions HealthCare, online through the Visions virtual store, or over the phone by calling (781) 232-5555. If a staff member is unavailable to take your call, please leave a message with your name and best callback number, and we will return your call within one business day. Most orders ship within two business days; special order or out-of-stock items may take longer.
Lab & Test Results
If you are expecting results from a blood test or another lab, please note that all results will be discussed in person at your next appointment. Due to the complexity of the tests ordered, the doctors are not able to provide results over the phone. If you are concerned about scheduling, please make sure to check in with our receptionists before leaving your initial appointment. They will help to schedule your follow-up appointment to review your lab results.
Billing
Please contact the number on the bottom of your statement with any billing questions. All of the billing for Visions HealthCare is taken care of by an outside company. As a result, we will not be able to answer any billing questions at our main number.
If your question regards a lab bill, please contact the lab directly.
For any insurance disputes, please contact your insurance company directly. We will gladly provide you with any necessary supporting materials to back up a claim once you have contacted your insurance company to find out exactly what they require.
Insurance
We will bill most major insurance companies except for Mass Health and Medicaid. However, it is the patient’s responsibility to find out whether our doctors are in our out of network, and if our services are covered by their specific plan. Any services not covered by a patient’s insurance plan or those services that are not billed to insurance are the financial responsibility of that patient.
Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices
Each visit to the Doctor’s Office creates Health Information. It may be a routine physical exam, or an illness or injury that you felt needed attention. Whatever the reason, new health information about you is created. We are required, by Federal Regulations, to make sure that we act only in ways that respect the confidentiality of your information, and use and disclose that information only for appropriate and necessary purposes. This notice is intended to inform you of those uses and disclosures, and to explain your rights regarding your Protected Health Information. Protected Health Information is any health information about you that includes pieces of information that could link that information to you.
The “Designated Record Site” of protected information includes your Medical Record, the records associated with billing for your treatment, and information stored and used on behalf of this office by our Business Associates – other companies, that we have contracted with them to perform various other functions for us. These Business Associates are aware of their obligation to protect the confidentiality of the information they use on our behalf.
Use or Disclosure for Treatment
During the course of your visit, the Doctor may record your height, weight, and blood pressure, perform certain examinations and record the findings, have blood drawn for lab work, take an x-ray or perform other tests, and possibly write a prescription. These pieces of information are added to your Medical Record. On, or prior to, your next visit, the record of previous visits will be reviewed. Sometimes a nurse, nurse practitioner, or other physician may be involved. All of these events involve uses of your Protected Health Information. There are also other health professionals who may see your information. Sometimes your doctor may make a referral to another medical professional such as a specialist or physical therapist. That individual receives the necessary portions of your Protected Health Information, but s/he is likewise required to treat the information in a confidential manner.
In most offices, there are individuals other than Doctors and Nurses who also handle your medical record. The person who books your appointment may also retrieve your record on the morning of your visit. We take very seriously the need for our entire staff to respect you and information about you. Should you have additional concerns, you may consult with our Privacy Officer.
Use or Disclosure for Payment
In order to receive payment for your visit and lab tests, bills must be sent to your Health Insurance Company. Each bill contains your identity and information about the nature of your appointment. Sometimes, other insurers are involved as well. The Federal Regulations allow us to do our billing as an obvious and necessary part of our health care system. The Health Plans that pay us for your care are also required to protect confidentiality. The privacy rule also permits us to use or disclose your Protected Health Information to aid another covered entity in its efforts to receive payment.
Use or Disclosure for Operations
Health Care Operations include such activities as Quality Assurance, and the Accreditation or Licensing of the practitioners. These activities are usually conducted by professionals in licensing or oversight agencies, or by Health Insurance Plans or other payers and involve reviews of samples of health information from patient records. Operational activities also include case management or care coordination and training, and activities related to the detection of fraud and abuse. Since the activities are undertaken in the interest of assuring continuous improvement of the quality of health care, the Federal Regulations permit these uses of your data.
There are other circumstances under which disclosures do not require your permission. One example of such disclosures that are required by law is mandated reporting of public health issues, child abuse or neglect, to law enforcement personnel engaged in criminal investigation, or in responding to court orders. Research conducted under the auspices of the Food and Drug Administration, or supervised by an Institutional Review Board or Privacy Board in a Hospital or Medical School does not require your approval.
If we are asked to provide data for research about patients meeting certain criteria, and if we decide that the proposed project is one that we wish to participate in, we will contact individuals who meet the criteria to (1) inform them of the project and that their information meets the criteria; and (b) to seek an individual authorization to disclose Protected Health Information for this purpose. It is not necessary for you to agree, and there will be no negative consequences to you for refusing to authorize this disclosure, and we will honor your wishes in this regard.
Specific Authorization by you is required for other uses or disclosures of your Protected Health Information. You also have other rights regarding your information:
You have the right to request additional restrictions on the use or disclosure of your Protected Health Information. For instance, you can request that Protected Health Information not be disclosed to a particular family member. (EXAMPLE: I do not want to have lab work done at “xyz” because I work there.)
You have the right to request confidential treatment of communications. (EXAMPLE: delivery of test results or general mail to a PO box or other alternate address.)
You have the right to access for inspection and review and/or copy of your health information held by this practice, and you have a right to request amendments to any portion of the record.
For each of these, your approved request will be entered in the record. However we are not required to agree to your request. If we do not agree, our reasons will be noted. If we DO agree, we are bound to comply with the request.
You have a right to an accounting of disclosures other than those permitted for treatment, payment and operations, or disclosures to yourself. You also have the right to file a complaint with us (this request cannot be denied) and/or with the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services.