Patient Policies

Financial Policies

Our goal is to provide you with the highest quality care and services. Please review our financial and clinic policies to better understand our standard practices. If you have any questions, please contact your clinic.

As a patient, you can expect that we will:

• Provide accurate and timely billing.
• Provide your bill to you in paper or electronically (e-statements), depending on your preference.

As a patient or guarantor, this is what we ask of you:

• Co-pays are due at the time of service.
• Co-pays not paid at the time of your visit may be subject to an additional charge to your account.
• For patients with no insurance, we require payment at the time of service.

If your check is returned for non-sufficient funds (NSF), we will add a service charge to your account. If that happens, you will be asked to pay the amount of the check plus the service charge in cash within 10 days. If your account has not been paid in full by then, it may be referred for collection action.

Billing and insurance:

We will directly bill insurance plans that have a contract with FCN; any remaining balance will be billed to you. Please bring your insurance card to each visit to ensure we bill your insurance correctly.

The insurance companies that we are contracted with may change from time to time. If you are considering a new insurance plan or if your employer plan is going to change, please call your clinic or Patient Accounts at (360) 318-8800 to check if we are contracted with that plan.

We do not provide care to patients on insurance plans that are not contracted with FCN. This applies to all non-contracted plans that serve as a patient’s primary coverage. Examples of plans we don’t accept include United Healthcare; military plans from Tricare, Healthnet, and VA/ChampVA; Apple Health plans from Amerigroup, CHPW, and United Healthcare; Medicare Advantage plans from Aetna, Anthem, BC/BS, Cigna, Optum, Regence, and United Healthcare; and any other non-contracted plans.

We do not accept cash pay for patients on non-contracted plans, however we offer self-pay options for patients with no insurance (see below).

If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident and have personal injury protection through auto insurance, your healthcare insurance will not cover the cost of treatment. You will be asked to sign a form acknowledging your responsibility for these charges at the time of the visit.

When patients turn 18 years old, they become the guarantors of their account. They will be asked to review their own financial agreements the first time they have a visit after turning 18.

Some insurance plans do not cover certain procedures, such as newborn circumcisions, employment exams, sports physicals and treatment of cosmetic skin lesions. In such cases, you will be asked to sign a waiver agreeing to pay for the visit at the time of service. You may want to call your insurance company to determine coverage for a procedure that is being considered.

Self-pay:

We offer self-pay options for patients with no insurance. Self-pay visits require a deposit at the time of service and may qualify for a discount. The discount applies if the statement balance is paid in full within 14 days of the statement date. If the balance is not paid in full within 14 days, the discount no longer applies and the patient is responsible for the full balance.

Financial hardship:

If you are having financial difficulty, our business office will be happy to work with you on options. If we establish a payment plan, we ask that payments be made as scheduled, each month and on time.

If you fail to pay or contact our business office within 60 days after a statement is issued, our collection process on your account will begin. Repeated failure to pay may result in your dismissal from Family Care Network and the assignment of your account to a collection agency. In the event of non-payment, a rebilling fee/finance charge will be applied to any overdue balance, as authorized by Washington State law.

Updates to this policy can be found at familycarenetwork.com and are posted in each clinic. Please let us know if you have any questions. Call our Patient Accounts Department at (360) 318-9705 or (866) 494-4414.

Clinic Policies

After-Hours Phone Calls: A provider is available 24 hours a day. If you have an urgent medical issue, call your clinic. You will be connected with an answering service or provided instructions for reaching the on-call provider.

Cancellations: We require at least a 24-hour notice if you are unable to keep your appointment. Missing an appointment without notice and/or arriving too late to be seen is considered a no show. Repeated no shows may result in a charge and/or dismissal from the practice (see below).

Emergencies: A life-threatening emergency requires prompt attention in an emergency room. Call 911 or go directly to your local emergency room. During clinic hours, urgent medical issues will be seen as a priority and treated promptly. This may mean a disruption in your scheduled appointment. Please be patient if this happens and know that you would receive the same priority treatment under those circumstances.

Insurance: Family Care Network is contracted with a variety of insurance plans. Please call our office to verify that we are contracted with your plan.

No Shows: Missing an appointment without notice and/or arriving too late to be seen is considered a no show. Repeated no shows may result in a no-show charge of up to $100 and/or dismissal from the practice. Please note that insurance will not pay for no show fees. A third no-show in a 24-month period can be cause for dismissal from the practice for the patient and the patient’s family. Failure to keep an initial appointment to establish care is also cause for dismissal from the practice.

Prescription Refills: Please contact your pharmacy at least three business days before you run out of medication. Your pharmacy will send a refill request to your provider for approval. Refill requests for routine prescriptions will not be approved after-hours, on weekends, or by an on-call provider. We will be happy to fax a refill request to your mail-order pharmacy if they fax us a request. We are not able to call your mail-order pharmacy on your behalf or accept information from you to contact your mail-order pharmacy.

Well Visits: A well visit is an individualized preventive health appointment. During a well visit, we review and update your health history, discuss and order screening tests, provide needed immunizations, and make recommendations for a healthy lifestyle.

A well visit is not an appointment to treat an ongoing problem or diagnose and treat new problems. If an additional problem outside the scope of the well visit is evaluated and treated, we are required to identify it as a separate problem, which results in two different charges for the same visit.

Financial Interest Statement: Family Care Network is a physician-owned company that has a financial interest in the ancillary services provided in our facilities, such as clinical lab services, diagnostic testing, or specialty care. You have the option to use an alternate facility for services ordered, and will not be treated differently if you choose to do so. We will provide a list of appropriate alternate facilities if you want to receive services elsewhere.