Welcome to the Coastal Retina Institute. You have chosen a leading eye care facility. Our goal is to make your experience here as pleasant as possible. Everything we do here is geared toward providing you, our patient, the highest quality medical and surgical care possible.

 

You should plan to be here 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours, depending on the extent of your examination and any additional tests, studies, or procedures that might be required.

 

 

PLEASE BRING WITH YOU TO THE APPOINTMENT:

Medications – please either bring a current list of all medications you are taking, or the medications in the bottles as received from the pharmacy.

 

Eyeglasses – please bring your best or most recent eyeglasses, even if they no longer improve your vision. The glasses will provide important information about the past condition of your eyes.

 

Insurance Cards – please bring all current insurance cards with you to the appointment. We will bill your medical insurance, primary and secondary, for the medical eye exam and any additional tests, studies or procedures performed. Any unpaid visits due to invalid insurance cards will become the patient’s (parent/guardian) responsibility.

 

Photo ID – We are required to obtain a copy of your photo ID. This is to protect you from someone else using your medical insurance (a type of identity theft).

 

INSURANCE & PAYMENT (please refer to your insurance handbook for rules):

Self-Pay – If you are not covered by medical insurance, you will be expected to pay-in-full at the time of service.

 

Medicare – We accept assignment on Medicare. If you are a Medicare beneficiary and do not have secondary coverage, you will be responsible for payment of 20% of the Medicare allowed amount.

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 Deductible – Be prepared to pay your medical insurance deductible if it has not been met for the year.

  

Copays – You are required to pay your insurance copay at the time of service. The copay amount is usually noted on your insurance card or can be found in your insurance handbook.

 

HMO/Managed Care/OHP – If you are insured through an HMO, Managed Care, or OHP, you will need a referral-authorization from your Primary Care physician before your appointment. Any unpaid visits due to invalid or non-referral will become the patient’s (parent/guardian) responsibility.

  

Non-Covered Services – Some services might not be covered by your insurance. Most medical insurance plans, including Medicare, do not pay for “routine eye exams.” Routine Eye Exams are exams which do not result in a medical diagnosis. For example, diagnoses such as myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), astigmatism, presbyopia (aging eyes) would not be considered medical. Routine eye exams also include “screening for eye disease” which does not result in a medical diagnosis. In the event of service not covered by your medical insurance, you will be responsible for the charges.

 

Payment Options – We accept Cash, Check, Debit, Visa, MasterCard & Discover.

 

DILATION:

Your pupils will probably be dilated during the initial visit. Dilation lasts several hours and may blur your vision. If you have not previously driven with dilated pupils, you should bring a driver.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Office hours are Monday – Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm (except holidays). We encourage you to call us anytime you have a question or problem with your eyes. Non-emergency calls are best handled during business hours. Emergency and after-hour calls are handled by our answering service or forwarded to the Physician on-call.