Preparing For Your Visit

We appreciate your selection of our practice for your medical or cosmetic needs. Our practice is dedicated to providing personalized, quality care, and we look forward to welcoming you to our office in Saratoga, California.

To help make your visit with us as efficient, thorough, and comfortable as possible, please complete and return our patient forms prior to your appointment. Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time. In respect of our patients, we will do our utmost to see you promptly.

Please expect your appointment to take between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on the reason for the visit and if additional tests are required. If Dr. Phan recommends a procedure to address your concerns, it will be scheduled for a return visit.

What you’ll need for your first appointment

• A completed New Patient Packet

Please also review our Privacy Notice before your visit.

For medical appointments, please bring the following (if applicable):

• Photo ID
• Insurance card
• Primary physician referral (when required)
• Your eye glasses or contact lenses as well as your contact lens case
• List of all medicines, vitamins, and nutritional supplements
• Copies of previous operative reports if you have had eyelid surgery
• Copies of medical records or special tests, including the actual CT or MRI scans, if you have a complex medical problem

For cosmetic consultations, please bring the following (if possible):

• Old photographs of yourself
• Operative reports of previous cosmetic surgeries

Photographs

It is standard of care that photographs will be taken of you prior to and following the initiation of most clinical treatments and/or the performance of any surgical procedure. These are a must, as they help in pre-operative planning of surgery and judging your response to treatment. 

About Insurance

While we will do everything we can to work with the insurance companies, we cannot certify what and how much of the professional or operating room services will be covered by your insurance. We will contact your insurance company to describe your conditions and provide supporting documents to get authorization if that is required.

Please note that authorization by insurance does not guarantee payment. You should also check with your insurance carrier about coverage before proceeding with surgery. Unfortunately, the patient is ultimately responsible for payment of services after 90 days of service, regardless of the insurance claim status, approval, or denial.

It is also the patient’s responsibility to inform the practice of any change in their insurance coverage, including providing a new insurance card. Failure to inform our office of changes to their coverage or to provide accurate information about their insurance plan before services are rendered will result in the patient’s responsibility for the full payment. 

About HMOs

Some insurance plans require pre-authorization prior to the office visit. If your insurance plan requires this, please obtain authorization from your primary care physician before your appointment and bring it with you. HMOs do not permit us to see our enrolled patients without prior authorization.

About Copays, Coinsurances, and Deductibles

Your insurance plan determines the copay, coinsurance, and deductible. We are required by your insurance carrier and by the law to collect all copays, coinsurances, and deductibles. These are remitted at the time of service, including surgery. We will do our best to collect the correct amount. However, this is an estimate until we receive a Remittance Advisory or Explanation of Benefit from your insurance carrier after services have been rendered and claims have been processed.

You will be refunded if we overcollect or billed if we undercollect. Please be sure to check your insurance plan for in- or out-of-network provisions, which may affect the amount of your copay, coinsurance, and deductible. Any outstanding balance not paid in full after 90 days of service will be turned over to a third party for collection.

In addition to the examination, there may be diagnostic tests (i.e., visual field test, tear duct probe and irrigation, CT and MRI scan, lab, etc.) and photographs taken as part of the complete evaluation. These are performed, when necessary, to help in the diagnosis and management of medical conditions. As a result, there may be additional out-of-pocket costs, as dictated by the insurance plan. It is not possible for us to foresee all possible tests prior to the consultation or be able to provide the costs of the work-up, as different plans have different allowable for the same service.

About Allowable versus Fee Schedule

Allowable is the amount the insurance plan has pre-determined that it will pay for a certain service. Each insurance plan, including ones under the same insurance company, has different allowable. This is typically negotiated by the employer with the insurance plan. The allowable is the amount that the office gets paid and is also the amount the patient is responsible for if the deductible has not been met or if the insurance plan denies payment. This amount may not be altered by the office without a breach of contract with the insurance company. For this reason, we are not allowed by the insurance company to waive or discount the deductible.

A fee schedule is a list of rates for all services that a practice uses to bill the insurance company. Many patients inquire why the fee schedule is different from the allowable. A practice typically has one fee schedule set to be inclusive of all insurance plans it participates in. Our fee schedule is 1.5 to 2 times the allowable of the Medicare rate, which may be less than, more than, or equivalent to the allowable rate of your plan, to include the highest allowable of all our participating plans. Of note, in-network patient is not responsible for the fee schedule and only for the allowable.

Payment Plans

We do not have payment plans. In extreme circumstances, we will do our best to devise a reasonable payment plan with patients on a case-by-case basis. However, payment plans are available for medical services only, not cosmetic services.

Cosmetic Consultation Fees

There is a cosmetic consultation fee of $200 that is applicable to future surgery with Dr. Phan. Fees for cosmetic surgery are determined by the extent of the services needed to meet the patient’s goals. We require 25% of the total fee to hold a surgery date. This deposit is non-refundable. The remaining balance is due two weeks prior to surgery. This fee is non-refundable for cancellation within one week of the surgery date, with the exception of a medical emergency. More details of this policy are provided in our cosmetic quote.

Rescheduling and Cancellation

Appointment needs to be confirmed within two business days of the appointment. We require a $100 deposit to reschedule a late cancellation or a no-show appointment.  After two no-shows, we require a valid credit card on file to reschedule and charge the full amount of the appointment if a third no-show occurs.  We reserve the right to discharge patients from the practice after three total late cancellations and/or no-shows. Cancellation is considered late if it is requested less than two business days before the appointment.

Other Fees

There is a $30 fee for completion of each form for the DMV, SDI, FMLA, etc.