Insurance Verification at Mizuta & Associates Physical Therapy

At Mizuta & Associates we accept any PPO insurance plan as well as Medicare and Tricare Prime and Standard. We verify each patient’s insurance benefits to minimize potential insurance coverage issues. We also accept cash payment for patients without physical therapy benefits or who have an insurance we do not accept such as an EPO or HMO. No-interest payment plans are available to help our cash and high deductible patients afford treatment. It is important to remember that in the state of California a patient must have a prescription from a medical provider in order to utilize insurance benefits. All of our insurance patients are billed in-network.

Sometimes patients have a secondary insurance. Regardless of whether primary or secondary, we accept the insurances listed above. In addition, we accept Medical as a secondary insurance. This is referred to as “Medi-Medi.” Medicare is primary and Medical is secondary. Secondary insurance plans are like a bonus and not a requirement to receive treatment. Secondary insurances typically pick up the remaining percentage that the primary insurance does not cover.

When a new patient calls to schedule an appointment, we gather general information starting with the patient’s name and contact number. We will ask the patient if he or she will be using insurance benefits. If the patient wishes to use his or her insurance benefits, we let the patient know a doctor referral may or may not be required. Even if a patient chooses not to use insurance benefits, we still like to know which health care specialists referred the patient. In some cases a patient may look up our clinic online and prefer to pay our cash rate. Regardless, we like to know how a new patient hears about us. After finding this out, we ask what the patient is seeking treatment for. It could be a specific diagnosis or simply an area of the body. We don’t hang up the phone without getting a patient’s date of birth! Lastly, if a patient chooses to use insurance benefits, we will get their member identification number on the front of the card and the toll-free provider number on the back of the card. We then verify the patient’s benefits, call him or her back to explain financial responsibility and get an appointment scheduled. When calling a patient back once we verify insurance benefits, we get an email address so we can send new patient paperwork and appointment reminders. This is the front office’s typical new patient intake process.