Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Run Like a Girl Retreat at the Red Mountain Resort in St. George, Utah!!
Join Kristie, her sisters, friends and amazing women for an inspiring weekend of education, relaxation, fun and (of course) running! Kristie will be a speaker again at the retreat. The "Run Like a Girl Retreat" will be hosted by the Red Mountain Resort in beautiful St. George, Utah on February 2-4, 2012. Call 1-800-944-3488 to reserve your room and be sure to ask for the RLAG discount! Visit the events official website at www.runlikeagirlretreat.com for more information including event registration, retreat agenda, and race information. Hope to see you there!!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Office Policies effective January 1, 2012
It is important for you to be aware of new office policies that will go into effect January 1, 2012. The policies will help us stream-line our services and help to ensure that patient needs are met in an efficient and appropriate manner. These new policies are described briefly below. The complete policy can be emailed to you upon request and is posted on my website www.kristierosser.com.
1. A copy of your medical records will be required for all prescription refills and blood test orders requested after December 31, 2011. If you haven't signed a release for records from my old office, a medical release form can be printed directly from my website. Complete the form and fax it to Dr. Gourley's office at (801) 356-3107 as soon as possible. A release form can be mailed directly to you or emailed to you upon request.
2. All prescription refill and blood test order requests will require a minimum 2 office-day notice, regular office days, Monday thru Thursday. If leaving a phone message or email, please provide your first name, spell your last name, your date of birth, a daytime phone number, pharmacy name/city and phone number, or lab name, and a specific message about what is requested.
Please check your prescription bottle for the number of refills remaining before requesting additional refills. Please keep track of your medications and call for refills when you have no less than 1 week of pills left, and no refills left on the bottle.
3. You can now contact the office by phone, email, and fax. The office number is (801) 899-6131. This is a digital phone line. If you are unable to leave a message on the phone system, please email the office at wellness@kristierosser.com. Our fax number is (801) 705-6131. All messages will be returned within 24 hours of regular office days, Monday-Thursday.
4. If you are experiencing an emergency, do not wait for the office to return your call.Go directly to the emergency room or instacare for immediate assistance.
5. Office visits: Preventative screening will be required as appropriate including annual preventative exam, mammogram, bone density, colonoscopy, etc. Once your blood levels are optimal on hormone replacement, office visits will be required every six months for follow-up evaluation and prescription refills.
6. Certain prescription medications require office visits more frequently. It is important for you to keep track of your screenings, your office visits, your need for prescription refills, and your blood work follow-ups. Plan ahead and schedule them in advance when possible.
7. You will be required to arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to complete necessary office paperwork. If you prefer, you can complete the office forms at home and bring thme to your appointment with you by printing the office forms from my website or requesting the forms be mailed directly to you.
8. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled appointment, you will be asked to reschedule your appointment in an effort to prevent other patient from having to wait behind your late arrival.
9. Bring your insurance card and driver's license to your appointment. Co-pays are due at time of service. Deductible amount is due at time of service. If you are unsure what your deductible amount is, or how much has not been met, you will be billed for the office visit, then reimbursed by our office once insurance payment is posted to your account.
For more information about office policies and for copies of office forms, please visit my website: www.kristierosser.com.
Thank you and as always, healthy living!
1. A copy of your medical records will be required for all prescription refills and blood test orders requested after December 31, 2011. If you haven't signed a release for records from my old office, a medical release form can be printed directly from my website. Complete the form and fax it to Dr. Gourley's office at (801) 356-3107 as soon as possible. A release form can be mailed directly to you or emailed to you upon request.
2. All prescription refill and blood test order requests will require a minimum 2 office-day notice, regular office days, Monday thru Thursday. If leaving a phone message or email, please provide your first name, spell your last name, your date of birth, a daytime phone number, pharmacy name/city and phone number, or lab name, and a specific message about what is requested.
Please check your prescription bottle for the number of refills remaining before requesting additional refills. Please keep track of your medications and call for refills when you have no less than 1 week of pills left, and no refills left on the bottle.
3. You can now contact the office by phone, email, and fax. The office number is (801) 899-6131. This is a digital phone line. If you are unable to leave a message on the phone system, please email the office at wellness@kristierosser.com. Our fax number is (801) 705-6131. All messages will be returned within 24 hours of regular office days, Monday-Thursday.
4. If you are experiencing an emergency, do not wait for the office to return your call.Go directly to the emergency room or instacare for immediate assistance.
5. Office visits: Preventative screening will be required as appropriate including annual preventative exam, mammogram, bone density, colonoscopy, etc. Once your blood levels are optimal on hormone replacement, office visits will be required every six months for follow-up evaluation and prescription refills.
6. Certain prescription medications require office visits more frequently. It is important for you to keep track of your screenings, your office visits, your need for prescription refills, and your blood work follow-ups. Plan ahead and schedule them in advance when possible.
7. You will be required to arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to complete necessary office paperwork. If you prefer, you can complete the office forms at home and bring thme to your appointment with you by printing the office forms from my website or requesting the forms be mailed directly to you.
8. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled appointment, you will be asked to reschedule your appointment in an effort to prevent other patient from having to wait behind your late arrival.
9. Bring your insurance card and driver's license to your appointment. Co-pays are due at time of service. Deductible amount is due at time of service. If you are unsure what your deductible amount is, or how much has not been met, you will be billed for the office visit, then reimbursed by our office once insurance payment is posted to your account.
For more information about office policies and for copies of office forms, please visit my website: www.kristierosser.com.
Thank you and as always, healthy living!
Insurance Update
As you know, I am working very hard to be added as a provider to insurance plans. At this time, I am a provider for Altius, Aetna, Blue Cross, EMIA and Select Health (IHC). The credentialling and contracting process with insurance companies is very labor-intensive, time-consuming, and SLOW. Each insurance has different requirements, forms and "hoops" to jump through.
If you have DMBA, PEHP, Cigna, Humana, United Health or Beechstreet insurance plans, I am sorry to announce that it is possible that I will not be added to these plans until around March 2012. Please check my blog and website www.kristierosser.com often for updates. I will email plan acceptance dates as soon as I am added. If I don't have your email, please email me at wellness@kristierosser.com and give me your full name, date of birth, and contact information so I can be sure to share all insurance updates with you as soon as possible.
If I am not a provider on your plan, you can still schedule appointments with my office as a self-pay patient. Many of patients with health savings accounts or high deductibles find that it is the same cost or less than using their insurance plan. Although the office visit fee would not be covered if I am not a provider on your plan, the lab work, pap smears, screening tests like mammograms, etc can still be billed through your insurance plan and applied towards your deductible per your insurance contract.
You can submit your office visit receipt to your insurance company for reimbursement of your visit citing out-of-network benefits if you desire, or save it for end-of year tax itemized deductibles.
Please call the office (801) 899-6131 or email with any questions you might have. Thank you for your patience, I hope to be a provider on all plans soon!
Thank you and as always, healthy living!
If you have DMBA, PEHP, Cigna, Humana, United Health or Beechstreet insurance plans, I am sorry to announce that it is possible that I will not be added to these plans until around March 2012. Please check my blog and website www.kristierosser.com often for updates. I will email plan acceptance dates as soon as I am added. If I don't have your email, please email me at wellness@kristierosser.com and give me your full name, date of birth, and contact information so I can be sure to share all insurance updates with you as soon as possible.
If I am not a provider on your plan, you can still schedule appointments with my office as a self-pay patient. Many of patients with health savings accounts or high deductibles find that it is the same cost or less than using their insurance plan. Although the office visit fee would not be covered if I am not a provider on your plan, the lab work, pap smears, screening tests like mammograms, etc can still be billed through your insurance plan and applied towards your deductible per your insurance contract.
You can submit your office visit receipt to your insurance company for reimbursement of your visit citing out-of-network benefits if you desire, or save it for end-of year tax itemized deductibles.
Please call the office (801) 899-6131 or email with any questions you might have. Thank you for your patience, I hope to be a provider on all plans soon!
Thank you and as always, healthy living!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Self-Pay Health Care: A Great Option for Many of Us
That time of year is fast approaching....time to renew your insurance deductible. Many of us cram all of our health services into December for this very reason. Would you believe that for those of us with deductibles over $1000, it may be more cost-effective to pay directly for some health services rather than use our insurance? It's true! I never would have believed it myself if I wasn't already using
self-pay lab and prescription services.
Those of us with high deductibles already know the pain of paying for your monthly insurance premium, and paying thousands of dollars out of pocket before the insurance kicks in and your healthcare if "free", all the while hoping that happens before the deductible renews again in January. This is where the value of self-pay services comes in.
Like many of you, I have a very high deductible ($7,000) and a very high monthly premium. Nothing I do for my health is "free" or "covered" until that high deductible amount is met. Over the last 4 years, and even with four small children, I have never met my deductible. This means I personally pay thousands of dollars per year for health care services towards my deductible and my monthly premium, and my insurance never receives a medical claim or bill!
Remember, I use the same hormones and need the same lab follow-ups that I recommend to my patients, and I take the same supplements (okay, I take a lot more supplements) than most. I feel the same painful pinch when I pay for the things I need to maintain my wellness. I am so dedicated to wellness, disease preventation, and living my life optimally, that I have tried to find ways to make wellness more affordable.
Over the years, I have researched self-pay costs, and have used many different labs and pharmacies to determine value, quality, and price. I compared the self-pay cost to my medical and insurance premiums/deductible. I discovered that paying as a "self-pay" patient for many simple services can save me and my family a substantial amount of money.
I want to share with you what I have learned after paying thousands of dollars towards my deductible--year after year.
Example:
1. Laboratory work can be very expensive.
I have found that Aspen Clinical Research (www.aspenclinicalresearch.com) in Orem has the lowest price for self-pay labs. I have been using their services personally for more than 3 years, and started recommending them professionally to my patients soon after. I have been sharing my discovery of such tremendous lab cost savings with my patients ever since.
The lab costs at Aspen are about 80% less than what I would pay using my insurance. For example, the typical hormone panel that I run on myself 3 times a year costs more than $1400 at my hospital lab, cash out of pocket, paid by me. With my $7,000 deductible, this means that I could repeat that blood panel many times and never reach my deductible! I am billed the entire $1400 after every draw! Can you say ouch? (My husband can..)
Imagine how relieved I was to find Aspen labs, and have the SAME PANEL drawn for around $250!
This is a huge savings for me and my family. It might be for you, too. I just completed an updated listing of Aspen lab costs compared with the next least expensive lab. If you would like a copy of the comparative price list for Aspen labs, email me at wellness@kristierosser.com.
2. Prescriptions, vitamins, hormone therapy and supplements can be expensive.
My prescription deductible is also very high. I have found that paying "self-pay" for my hormone, vitamin and supplement therapy is more cost effective than billing it through my insurance. For example, Prometrium (Progesterone) when billed through my insurance, is $200 a month. A compounded bioidentical progesterone that I pay cash for is around $32 a month. HUGE SAVINGS!
I use MedQuest pharmacy (www.mqrx.com) Salt Lake City for that very reason. I can order more than a 3 month supply of all of my hormones, vitamins, supplements and more, for less than half the cost of a 30 day prescription of prometrium!
3. Office visits and pap smears can be expensive.
My office has a separate system for self-pay patients that is cost-effective for those with high deductibles, health savings accounts, or without insurance. Patients of mine will attest to the time I spend with each of them, listening to their concerns, explaining tests results, educating them about their health, disease prevention, and helping them achieve their optimal wellness. The provider time with patients in my office is a rarity not seen in many medical practices, and translates into a valuable experience for the patient. I also use a self-pay lab for pap smears, saving my patients more than $150 over the insurance price. Yet another cost saving tip and service directly passed on to you!
When my patients have a good understanding of what their health insurance benefits are, and when they compare those costs to the self-pay options that I offer, many choose to use self-pay. They find out quickly that they can have their full hormone & blood work panel drawn 4 times per year (if necessary) for less than $1000 and pay for all of their hormones and supplements for less than $600 per year. This is just a few hundred dollars more than a single blood draw would cost them on a high deductible plan. What wise, incredible, helpful savings for them!
This information is also helpful to those of you with health care plans that include a health-savings account, a flex spending account or a Benny's card. Why pay more than you have to out of that savings account? Price checking for services becomes a very important part of your plan in these cases.
If you aren't sure about your insurance benefits, I encourage you to call your insurance and ask about your deductible, your percentage to be paid once deductible is met, and compare these costs to the self-pay options I offer my patients. You might find the savings to be astronomical like I did. With deductibles renewing in January, self-pay can be a smart decision for many of my patients.
I love passing this incredible cost-saving information on to my patients, friends and family!
Thank you, and as always, healthy living!
self-pay lab and prescription services.
Those of us with high deductibles already know the pain of paying for your monthly insurance premium, and paying thousands of dollars out of pocket before the insurance kicks in and your healthcare if "free", all the while hoping that happens before the deductible renews again in January. This is where the value of self-pay services comes in.
Like many of you, I have a very high deductible ($7,000) and a very high monthly premium. Nothing I do for my health is "free" or "covered" until that high deductible amount is met. Over the last 4 years, and even with four small children, I have never met my deductible. This means I personally pay thousands of dollars per year for health care services towards my deductible and my monthly premium, and my insurance never receives a medical claim or bill!
Remember, I use the same hormones and need the same lab follow-ups that I recommend to my patients, and I take the same supplements (okay, I take a lot more supplements) than most. I feel the same painful pinch when I pay for the things I need to maintain my wellness. I am so dedicated to wellness, disease preventation, and living my life optimally, that I have tried to find ways to make wellness more affordable.
Over the years, I have researched self-pay costs, and have used many different labs and pharmacies to determine value, quality, and price. I compared the self-pay cost to my medical and insurance premiums/deductible. I discovered that paying as a "self-pay" patient for many simple services can save me and my family a substantial amount of money.
I want to share with you what I have learned after paying thousands of dollars towards my deductible--year after year.
Example:
1. Laboratory work can be very expensive.
I have found that Aspen Clinical Research (www.aspenclinicalresearch.com) in Orem has the lowest price for self-pay labs. I have been using their services personally for more than 3 years, and started recommending them professionally to my patients soon after. I have been sharing my discovery of such tremendous lab cost savings with my patients ever since.
The lab costs at Aspen are about 80% less than what I would pay using my insurance. For example, the typical hormone panel that I run on myself 3 times a year costs more than $1400 at my hospital lab, cash out of pocket, paid by me. With my $7,000 deductible, this means that I could repeat that blood panel many times and never reach my deductible! I am billed the entire $1400 after every draw! Can you say ouch? (My husband can..)
Imagine how relieved I was to find Aspen labs, and have the SAME PANEL drawn for around $250!
This is a huge savings for me and my family. It might be for you, too. I just completed an updated listing of Aspen lab costs compared with the next least expensive lab. If you would like a copy of the comparative price list for Aspen labs, email me at wellness@kristierosser.com.
2. Prescriptions, vitamins, hormone therapy and supplements can be expensive.
My prescription deductible is also very high. I have found that paying "self-pay" for my hormone, vitamin and supplement therapy is more cost effective than billing it through my insurance. For example, Prometrium (Progesterone) when billed through my insurance, is $200 a month. A compounded bioidentical progesterone that I pay cash for is around $32 a month. HUGE SAVINGS!
I use MedQuest pharmacy (www.mqrx.com) Salt Lake City for that very reason. I can order more than a 3 month supply of all of my hormones, vitamins, supplements and more, for less than half the cost of a 30 day prescription of prometrium!
3. Office visits and pap smears can be expensive.
My office has a separate system for self-pay patients that is cost-effective for those with high deductibles, health savings accounts, or without insurance. Patients of mine will attest to the time I spend with each of them, listening to their concerns, explaining tests results, educating them about their health, disease prevention, and helping them achieve their optimal wellness. The provider time with patients in my office is a rarity not seen in many medical practices, and translates into a valuable experience for the patient. I also use a self-pay lab for pap smears, saving my patients more than $150 over the insurance price. Yet another cost saving tip and service directly passed on to you!
When my patients have a good understanding of what their health insurance benefits are, and when they compare those costs to the self-pay options that I offer, many choose to use self-pay. They find out quickly that they can have their full hormone & blood work panel drawn 4 times per year (if necessary) for less than $1000 and pay for all of their hormones and supplements for less than $600 per year. This is just a few hundred dollars more than a single blood draw would cost them on a high deductible plan. What wise, incredible, helpful savings for them!
This information is also helpful to those of you with health care plans that include a health-savings account, a flex spending account or a Benny's card. Why pay more than you have to out of that savings account? Price checking for services becomes a very important part of your plan in these cases.
If you aren't sure about your insurance benefits, I encourage you to call your insurance and ask about your deductible, your percentage to be paid once deductible is met, and compare these costs to the self-pay options I offer my patients. You might find the savings to be astronomical like I did. With deductibles renewing in January, self-pay can be a smart decision for many of my patients.
I love passing this incredible cost-saving information on to my patients, friends and family!
Thank you, and as always, healthy living!
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