Frequently Asked Questions

A list of the insurance plans that we participate with can be accessed by clicking here. Please call us to determine if an insurance plan not listed is one that we can bill.

Your insurance card provides an incredible amount of information needed for billing purposes; such as your membership number, effective date, group number, billing address, type of plan, co-pay amounts and often much more. Once we have the information in our system, we need to review your insurance card in subsequent visits to ensure that our information is current and verify that there have been no changes in your insurance plan. This prevents a lot of billing confusion, and limits the chances that we send you a bill because of incorrect insurance information.

It is vital for you to understand exactly what your health care insurance policy will provide. You are responsible to pay any required co-pays and deductibles. Your insurance company dictates whether you should be billed for any unpaid balances. Not all health care plans offer the same benefits. There may be services that are not covered because the insurance company may consider them routine, preventive or unnecessary. Even within the same insurance company, the plans differ depending on the contract your employer negotiated. Providing quality care is our primary concern, and we are more than willing to provide that care within your insurance contract guidelines. However, as those guidelines differ from one policy to another, it is your responsibility to know your coverage based on your insurance plan.

Like most medical practices, we require that you pay your co-pay at the time of your appointment. It is also the expectation, and often the requirement of your insurance company to do so at the time of service. The purpose of the co-pay is to off-set the cost of your insurance premiums. Medical practices have contracted agreements with insurance companies to submit claims directly to them for the convenience of the patient with the understanding that they would not bear the additional cost of billing patients for the co-pay amount. Please do not expect or ask us to “bill” you since the cost of sending a statement is often as much as the actual co-pay amount.

Click here to review MPCP’s financial policy.

We must maintain a balance of the variety of appointments necessary to meet the health care needs of our patients. Completing a physical exam requires a larger portion of time than many other appointment types; this time extends beyond the time allotted for the exam itself. This additional time is necessary for review, evaluation and documentation of the physical exam and related testing. Each visit to a primary care setting can have its own complexities and making a variety of appointment types available each day is one of the ways to ensure we provide each patient with the attention that they need during their appointment. Scheduling too many physicals in one day can overload the physician and make it difficult to stay on schedule, resulting in extended wait time for the patient.

A missed appointment is defined as a patient’s failure to cancel a scheduled appointment at least 24 hours in advance, or a minimum of 4 hours notice to cancel same day appointments.
Each Maryland Primary Care Physicians practice sets its own policy in this area, ranging from not charging for missed appointments, to not charging for the 1st missed appointment, to charging for each appointment missed. It’s important to remember that when an appointment is missed, that time slot could have been used to serve another patient. To avoid possible confusion, offices that charge patients for missed appointments have signs clearly stating their policy in patient waiting areas.

Maryland Primary Care Physicians providers participate with the Hospitalist programs at hospitals to which you are admitted. If you are admitted to the hospital, a staff of highly trained physicians, called Hospitalists, will coordinate your care. These Hospitalist physicians will keep your MPCP provider informed of your condition and outcomes pertaining to your hospital stay to assure continuity of care.

The initial Medicare AWV providing PPPS provides for the following services to an eligible beneficiary by a health professional:

• Establishment of an individual’s medical/family history.
• Establishment of a list of current providers and suppliers that are regularly involved in providing medical care to the individual.
• Measurement of an individual’s height, weight, BMI (or waist circumference, if appropriate), BP, and other routine measurements as deemed appropriate, based on the beneficiary’s medical/family history.
• Detection of any cognitive impairment that the individual may have as defined in this section.
• Review of the individual’s potential (risk factors) for depression, including current or past experiences with depression or other mood disorders, based on the use of an appropriate screening instrument for persons without a current diagnosis of depression.
• Review of the individual’s functional ability and level of safety based on direct observation, or the use of appropriate screening questions or a screening questionnaire.
• Establishment of a written screening schedule for the individual, such as a checklist for the next 5 to 10 years, as appropriate, based on recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), as well as the individual’s health status, screening history, and age-appropriate preventive services covered by Medicare.
• Establishment of a list of risk factors and conditions for which interventions are recommended or are underway for the individual, and a list of treatment options and their associated risks and benefits.
• Furnishing of personalized health advice to the individual and a referral, as appropriate, to health education or preventive counseling services or programs aimed at reducing identified risk factors and improving self-management, including weight loss, physical activity, smoking cessation, fall prevention, and nutrition.
• Voluntary advance care planning upon agreement with the individual.

This is not a comprehensive medical exam. A comprehensive exam can be scheduled for another visit.

Billing calls: 410-729-2642
Collection calls:  410-729-2643

Helpful tips when calling the billing or collections department:

• Please have your account number ready when calling– it can be found in the upper right-hand corner of your statement.
• Have your updated insurance cards accessible to verify insurance information.
• If calling to make a payment, have your credit card information ready.
• Please contact your insurance company first if you are disputing your copay or deductible.
• If you are calling on behalf of a patient, please note that the staff will not be able to provide information to you if the patient does not have a signed HIPAA release form on file.

Yes. If you request to receive appointment reminders via email, you will receive a “Permission Request to send Emails from Maryland Primary Care Physicians” in your email inbox. Please note that this will be coming from our third-party vendor Tavoca (reminders@tavoca.com), which handles all our appointment reminders.

Your University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) hospital. physician, or health care provider may participate in one or more health information exchanges (HIE). The Chesapeake Regional Information System (CRISP) is just one of several HIEs serving our area. HIEs allow instant sharing of health information between doctors, nurses, health insurance companies, hospitals, and other providers involved in your care. By belonging to an HIE, your healthcare team can see your medical records securely from other healthcare providers. HIEs are regulated by law; your health information is never sold or used for marketing by the HIE.

Care Everywhere is a tool within our electronic medical record system, EPIC, that allows patient data to be shared with HIE’s. This automated transaction process includes information from items such as your medical visits and other care coordination workflows.

Why is participation in an HIE important to you?

1. Sharing medical information through an HIE has been shown to:
   • Reduce medication and medical errors
   • Decrease unnecessary tests and procedures
   • Enhance the coordination of your care between your healthcare providers
2. Your healthcare provider(s) may use any of these HIEs to:
   • Be notified when you are admitted to a hospital
   • Share your health information with other providers who are caring for you
   • Share your health information with your health plan or health insurance company to be sure you are receiving appropriate follow-up care

It is your choice not to participate in an HIE. This process is called OPTING-OUT.

• Your medical information is automatically shared through an HIE, unless you choose NOT to allow this to occur (OPT OUT).

If you have additional questions before OPTING-OUT:

• Contact Corporate Compliance Department at 443-462-4141

How do you opt out/remove yourself from data sharing?

• To opt out of CRISP go to www.crisphealth.org or call 1-877-952-7477.
• To opt out of other HIEs that UMMS participates with please check the opt out option below or call the UMMS HIM department at 410-328-6750.

What happens when you opt out?

• Your data will not be shared starting from the day you are opted out.
• Any data that has already been shared with other organizations and Health Information Exchanges prior to the opt-out date cannot be retracted.

What if you want to opt back in?

• If you wish to opt back into Care Everywhere, please note that your data will only be shared with Health Information Exchanges from the point you opt back in.
• We are unable to accommodate requests to send any of your health care data to Health Information Exchanges from any visits that occurred during the time you had opted out.

Did you know that we offer free interpretation services to patients via LanguageLine Solutions?

For those patients in need of interpretation services for visits with their MPCP provider, we offer this free resource available for phone or video interpreting services.

• It is easy, secure and reliable, and is powered by the largest, qualified and trained, professional linguist team in the world.
• Translation services are available in 41 languages including American Sign Language. Click here for a list of languages.
• Your provider has the ability to invite LanguageLine interpreters in audio or video to their Telehealth sessions.

To learn more about how you can take advantage of these no-cost services, please speak with one of our staff members, who will be happy to provide you with additional information.