Office Etiquette
Welcome to POYNOR HEALTH NEW YORK.
Our goal is to provide you with a superior and tranquil health and wellness experience to the highest standards in a highly personalized and outcomes driven fashion.
We believe that health and wellness is a lifestyle that can empower women to live their best life possible. Our goal is to help women with their health and wellness in a comprehensive and cohesive fashion. We believe that the entire person should be treated, as all women will bring their own personal focus and into their health and wellness concerns. We believe that a woman’s health and wellness is more complex than a “sum of the parts” and we approach health and wellness in not only an allopathic fashion, but also in a functional, holistic, and integrated fashion.
The document below will outline the policies of our practice in order to help you to understand our structure and make your care with us more pleasant and productive.
Reserved Appointment Times and Arrivals
For a relaxing and healing experience, we ask that you allow one to 1.5 hours in the office for appointments without imaging and 1.5 to 2 hours for those appointments that involve imaging. We are able to honor requests for early am and late pm appointments.
For a tranquil and private health experience, we reserve designated individual areas for our clients. These reservations start promptly at the appointment time of record and extend to one hour from the reserved arrival appointment time. We will honor late arrivals however these visits will naturally be shorter as we will not delay the next client.
It is important to also let us know if you will not attend your appointment. Cancellations are accepted up to 48 hours prior to the visit, after this there will be a cancellation fee.
For privacy concerns, we ask that you arrive just prior to your appointed time.
Scheduling
To schedule an appointment, please speak with our reception team, who will guide you to the best health experience.
Appointments can be booked by phone at 212.426.2700 or email at poynor@poynor.nyc. To ensure your preferred time is available, we recommend advance booking.
Cancellations
As a courtesy to other clients, please provide a minimum of 48 hours advance notice of cancellations or changes. It is always best also to confirm a cancellation 48 hours in advance by sending an email to poynor@poynor.nyc.
Arrival
You are encouraged to arrive at your appointment time. As a courtesy to other guests and to keep schedules on time, late arrivals will only receive the remaining available appointment allotment and will be charged the full service fee.
Quiet and Healing Environment
Our office environment is one of relaxation and tranquility. We respectfully ask you leave cellular phones turned to silent so the tranquility of the health experience may be preserved. We respectfully ask that you do not bring food to the office as this may disturb other clients. We ask that conversation in the office reception area be kept at a private and non disruptive level.
In order to achieve maximal health and wellness, we strive to have our environment tranquil, peaceful and as stress-less as possible. Our reception area is reserved for our clients. We are aware that some of our clients will want to bring family members or friends to sentinel appointments. We ask that this be kept to a minimum in order to be respectful of tranquility and privacy for all. We ask that any guests that you may bring with you also respect our goals of providing a healing space for our clients.
Payment and Service Charge
We accept Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover, cheques and cash.
Office Hours
Our office appointments for clients are standardly offered Monday through Friday from 8 am until the last appointment at 6 pm. We also offer early appointments and late appointments upon request and need.
Dr. Poynor is generally in the operating room on Fridays.
Emergency and urgent visits are always accommodated. We will accommodate these visits generally in the early morning and later hours of the day.
Special Health Considerations
Please notify our reception team if you have any special needs, cough, or fever. If you are very ill and do not require urgent care from us, please reschedule your appointment.
Attire and Privacy
All staff are professionally trained to ensure the highest quality of service and integrity. Proper draping techniques are always used to protect your privacy and assure your comfort at all times.
Safety
Our clients’ health and safety are our greatest concerns. We ask that you always book your follow-up appointment on the day that you are seen in the office. In this way, we can provide you the best and safest health care possible.
Test Results
For safety concerns, all of our Pap smears, pathology, and blood work are sent to either Quest or LabCorp laboratories for tracking and analysis. Some special testing may be sent to Enzo Medical Laboratory or to Dermpath Laboratories. Please let us know at the time of your visit your preferred laboratory. Please check with your insurance carrier the preferred laboratory prior to your visit with us so that you do no incur unnecessary charges.
In order to review your results, we ask that you book a follow-up office appointment after complex testing, or phone consultation for more simple testing. This recommendation will be made at your visit.
We do have an online patient portal at kareo.com. All laboratory testing will be placed on the portal for you.
If we do not hear from you for test results, we will send you a letter concerning abnormal results and attempt to reach you by phone in order to schedule follow-up appointment to review medical treatment recommendations.
Although we have many measures in order to assure that abnormal results are communicated to you, please always contact us two weeks after your appointment to confirm test results have been reviewed and recommendations made.
Communication
Laboratory results will be returned within 2 weeks.
You may call for results at 212.426.2700.
You may retrieve results online via the KAREO portal. You will receive email invitations for both of these.
Complex review of laboratory results and medical recommendations will require a formal in office or tele health appointment.
Phone Requests
Monday through Friday, phone requests for all non-urgent medical matters are generally returned throughout the day.
All urgent phone calls are handled immediately.
Tele Health
For complex issues and laboratory values that require review, treatment recommendations and medical actions, we ask that you reserve a distinct time and reserve either an in office or telehealth appointment. This can be done through our reception staff.
Phone System
In the event of any downtime of the phone system, always reach out to us via text or E mail. Dr. Poynor can always be reached at 917.710.3336 or via email at poynor@poynor.nyc.
Medical Records
We are happy to supply you with your medical records. We generally try to complete these requests within 24 to 48 hours if possible however, requests may take longer if you have a more complex history with us. Records, which are requested for ongoing care, are given top priority. We request that records be sent directly to you, so that you can control their distribution for current and future use and care. We require a NY State approved HIPPA compliant record release form to be completed by you. This is for your safety.
Communication
All administrative matters, medication requests, records requests and scheduling requests should be addressed to our office staff at 212.426.2700. You can also reach out to us electronically at KAREO.com under the patient portal tab. This is a HIPPA compliant system and the preferred method of electronic communication.
While not HIPPA protected, electronic communications can be also be used via E mail and Text. Please do not place in E mail or text any personal information that you desire to be completely private and HIPPA protected.
E-mail: poynor@poynor.nyc
Text: 917.710.3336
Electronic Correspondence and Technology
We embrace technology in our practice, however we are aware of its privacy limitations. Electronic correspondence through email or texting is extremely efficient, however any electronic communication has the capability of being viewed and is not
HIPPA compliant. We will never reach out to you in a non compliant fashion.
We will only communicate via electronic correspondence if you allow us, and also understand that your sensitive information can possibly be viewed by others. We have an encryption service however this does not guarantee that a security breech cannot occur.
KAREO.com also offers HIPPA compliant secure messaging.
Medication Refills
Please allow up to 48 hours for nonurgent refill requests to be processed. All urgent requests will be processed by close of business day.
Requests can be made verbally with telephone at 212.426.2700 or through KAREO.com.
Financial Policies
To reduce confusion and misunderstanding between our patients and practice, we have adopted the following financial policies. If you have any questions regarding these policies, please discuss them with us.
We are dedicated to providing the best possible care experience and service to you and regard your complete understanding of your financial responsibilities as an essential element of your care and treatment.
Full payment is due at the time of service unless your health insurance carrier has made prior arrangements.
For your convenience we accept cash, checks or credit cards (i.e.; VISA, Mastercard, Discover and American Express).
Your Insurance
We have made prior arrangements only with some selected plans in BCBS and Cigna insurers to accept an assignment of benefits. This means that we will bill those plans for which we have an agreement and will only require you to pay the authorized copayment or dedcutible at the time of service. This office’s policy is to collect this copayment or deductible when you arrive for your appointment. We do not bill for these payments.
We do not accept all BCBS plans and all CIgna plans.
Although we are contracted with some plans of BCBS and Cigna insurance carriers, our services may not be covered by your particular insurance plan. Being referred to our practice by another physician does not necessarily guarantee that your insurance will cover our services. Please remember that you are responsible for all charges incurred: your physician's referral and our verification of your insurance benefits are not a guarantee of payment.
As a courtesy, to the best possible standards, our practice verifies your benefits with your insurance company. A quote of benefits is not a guarantee of benefits or payment. Your claim will process according to your plan, if your claim processes differently from the benefits we were quoted, the insurance company will side with the plan and will not honor the benefit quote we received.
If your insurance requires a referral, it is your responsibility to know this and to provide the referral to our office prior to seeing the physician. If unable to provide the referral prior to the visit payment in full will be required at the time of the visit.
If you are covered by health insurance with our practice, we will bill your insurance. Please provide your insurance information to the front office staff.
Accepting your insurance does not place all financial responsibilities onto this practice, and you will be held accountable for any unpaid balances by your plan.
To avoid lapses in having the appropriate information, the client is expected to present an active and up to date insurance card at each visit. All co-payments and past due balances are due at time of office visit.
We highly recommend you also contact your insurance carrier and check into your coverage for our practice. Do not assume that you will not owe anything if you have more than one insurance policy.
If you have Medicare, PART B only you are responsible for your Medicare deductible and your 20% of the charges at the time of service.
In the event that your health plan determines a service to be “not covered,” you will be responsible for the complete charge.
Payment is due upon receipt of a statement from our office.
Out of Network Coverage and Deposits for Care
For these plans we require a 650.00 USD deposit for all care for each visit involving imaging, 300.00 USD for visits not requiring imaging. For procedures we will require differing deposits. This payment is due at the time professional services are rendered.
Initial visit consultations, irregardless of imaging, will require a deposit of 650.00 USD at the time of the visit.
If you have insurance coverage with a plan for which we do not have a prior agreement, we will prepare and send the claim for you, if you have "out of network benefits".
We will submit a claim and send to your insurance and benefits will be assigned to the office of Dr. Elizabeth Poynor. This means that your insurer will usually send the payment directly to us. If payment is sent to you, it is your responsibility to send all payments on the behalf of your care with us to Dr. Elizabeth Poynor.
Insurance Claims
Medical insurance is a contract between you and your insurance company. We are NOT a party of this contract. We will bill your primary insurance company as a courtesy to you. In order to properly bill your insurance company we require that you disclose all insurance information including primary and secondary insurance, as well as, any change of insurance information. Failure to provide complete insurance information may result in client responsibility for the entire bill. Although we may estimate what your insurance company may pay, it is the insurance company that makes the final determination of your eligibility and benefits. If your insurance company is not contracted with us, you agree to pay any portion of the charges not covered by insurance, including but not limited to those charges above the usual and customary allowance. If we are out of network for your insurance company and your insurance pays you directly, you are responsible for payment of professional services rendered in our office.
Private Pay Clients
No third party insurance billing is performed.
For private pay clients, the charges for your care and treatment are due at the time of the service.
Fee structure:
initial visit is 650.00 USD
Subsequent visits with imaging 650.0 USD
Subsequent visits without imaging 300.00.
Office procedure fees will vary and should be reviewed at the time of procedure booking.
Expectations
It is the policy of our practice that payment is due at the time of service. We require all clients to pay their deductible, copay and/or coinsurance payment at the time of each visit prior to departure from the office. At the conclusion of your visits with us you may be asked to resolve any outstanding balances. If there is a credit, you will be provided a refund promptly.
Any balance due from a visit is your responsibility and is due upon receipt of a statement from our office.
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
Elizabeth Poynor MD PLLC
157 East 81st Street New York, New York 10028
EFFECTIVE DATE: 11.11.19
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEALTH RECORD/INFORMATION
Each time you visit a hospital, physician, dentist, or other healthcare provider, a record of your visit is made. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnoses, treatment, and a plan for future care or treatment. This information often referred to as your health or medical record, serves as a basis for planning your care and treatment and serves as a means of communication among the many health professionals who contribute to your care. Understanding what is in your record and how your health information is used helps you to ensure its accuracy, better understand who, what, when, where, and why others may access your health information, and helps you make more informed decisions when authorizing disclosure to others.
YOUR HEALTH INFORMATION RIGHTS
Unless otherwise required by law, your health record is the physical property of the healthcare practitioner or facility that compiled it. However, you have certain rights with respect to the information.
You have the right to:
Receive a copy of this Notice of Privacy Practices from us upon enrollment or upon request.
Request restrictions on our uses and disclosures of your protected health information for treatment, payment and health care operations. This includes your right to request that we not disclose your health information to a health plan for payment or health care operations if you have paid in full and out of pocket for the services provided. We reserve the right not to agree to a given requested restriction.
Request to receive communications of protected health information in confidence.
Inspect and obtain a copy of the protected health information contained in your medical and billing records and in any other Practice records used by us to make decisions about you. If we maintain or use electronic health records, you will also have the right to obtain a copy or forward a copy of your electronic health record to a third party. A reasonable copying/labor charge may apply.
Request an amendment to your protected health information. However, we may deny your request for an amendment, if we determine that the protected health information or record that is the subject of the request:
was not created by us, unless you provide a reasonable basis to believe that the originator of the protected health information is no longer available to act on the requested amendment.
is not part of your medical or billing records.
is not available for inspection as set forth above.
is accurate and complete.
Receive an accounting of disclosures of protected health information made by us to individuals or entities other than to you, except for disclosures:
to carry out treatment, payment and health care operations as provided above;
to persons involved in your care or for other notification purposes as provided by law;
to correctional institutions or law enforcement officials as provided by law;
for national security or intelligence purposes;
that occurred prior to the date of compliance with privacy standards (April 14, 2003);
incidental to other permissible uses or disclosures;
that are part of a limited data set (does not contain protected health information that directly identifies individuals);
made to patient or their personal representatives; for which a written authorization form from the patient has been received
Revoke your authorization to use or disclose health information except to the extent that we have already been taken action in reliance on your authorization, or if the authorization was obtained as a condition of obtaining insurance coverage and other applicable law provides the insurer that obtained the authorization with the right to contest a claim under the policy.
Receive notification if affected by a breach of unsecured PHI
In any event, any agreed upon amendment will be included as an addition to, and not a replacement of, already existing records.
HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED
This organization may use and/or disclose your medical information for the following purposes:
Health Oversight Activities: We may disclose protected health information to federal or state agencies that oversee our activities. Law Enforcement: We may disclose protected health information as required by law or in response to a valid judge ordered subpoena. For example, in cases of victims of abuse or domestic violence; to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; related to judicial or administrative proceedings; or related to other law enforcement purposes. Military and Veterans: If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release protected health information about you as required by military command authorities. Treatment: We may use and disclose protected health information in the provision, coordination, or management of your health care, including consultations between health care providers regarding your care and referrals for health care from one health care provider to another. Payment: We may use and disclose protected health information to obtain reimbursement for the health care provided to you, including determinations of eligibility and coverage and other utilization review activities. Regular Healthcare Operations: We may use and disclose protected health information to support functions of our practice related to treatment and payment, such as quality assurance activities, case management, receiving and responding to patient complaints, physician reviews, compliance programs, audits, business planning, development, management and administrative activities. Appointment Reminders: We may use and disclose protected health information to contact you to provide appointment reminders. Treatment Alternatives: We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment alternatives or other health related benefits and services that may be of interest to you. Health-Related Benefits and Services: We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about health-related benefits, services, or medical education classes that may be of interest to you. Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: Unless you object, we may disclose your protected health information to your family or friends or any other individual identified by you when they are involved in your care or the payment for your care. We will only disclose the protected health information directly relevant to their involvement in your care or payment. We may also disclose your protected health information to notify a person responsible for your care (or to identify such person) of your location, general condition or death. Business Associates: There may be some services provided in our organization through contracts with Business Associates. Examples include physician services in the emergency department and radiology, certain laboratory tests, and a copy service we use when making copies of your health record. When these services are contracted, we may disclose some or all of your health information to our Business Associate so that they can perform the job we have asked them to do. To protect your health information, however, we require the Business Associate to appropriately safeguard your information. Organ and Tissue Donation: If you are an organ donor, we may release medical information to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation. Worker's Compensation: We may release protected health information about you for programs that provide benefits for work related injuries or illness. Communicable Diseases: We may disclose protected health information to notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition. Lawsuits and Disputes: We may disclose protected health information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose medical information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process. Inmates: If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release protected health information about you to the correctional institution or law enforcement official. An inmate does not have the right to the Notice of Privacy Practices. Abuse or Neglect: We may disclose protected health information to notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a patient has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law. Fund raising: Unless you notify us you object, we may contact you as part of a fund raising effort for our practice. You may opt out of receiving fund raising materials by notifying the practice’s privacy officer at any time at the telephone number or the address at the end of this document. This will also be documented and described in any fund raising material you receive. Coroners, Medical Examiners, and Funeral Directors: We may release protected health information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also release protected health information about patients to funeral directors as necessary to carry out their duties. Public Health Risks: We may disclose your protected health information for public health activities and purposes to a public health authority that is permitted by law to collect or receive the information. The disclosure will be made for the purpose such as controlling disease, injury or disability. Serious Threats: As permitted by applicable law and standards of ethical conduct, we may use and disclose protected health information if we, in good faith, believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of a person or the public. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): As required by law, we may disclose to the FDA health information relative to adverse events with respect to food, supplements, product and product defects, or post marketing surveillance information to enable product recalls, repairs, or replacement. Research (inpatient): We may disclose information to researchers when an institutional review board that has reviewed the research proposal and established protocols to ensure the privacy of your health information has approved their research.
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
We are required to maintain the privacy of your health information. In addition, we are required to provide you with a notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to information we collect and maintain about you. We must abide by the terms of this notice. We reserve the right to change our practices and to make the new provisions effective for all the protected health information we maintain. If our information practices change, a revised notice will be mailed to the address you have supplied upon request. If we maintain a Web site that provides information about our patient/customer services or benefits, the new notice will be posted on that Web site.
Your health information will not be used or disclosed without your written authorization, except as described in this notice. The following uses and disclosures will be made only with explicit authorization from you: (i) uses and disclosures of your health information for marketing purposes, including subsidized treatment communications; (ii) disclosures that constitute a sale of your health information; and (iii) other uses and disclosures not described in the notice. Except as noted above, you may revoke your authorization in writing at any time.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REPORT A PROBLEM
If you have questions about this notice or would like additional information, you may contact our Privacy Officer, Elizabeth A. Poynor MD PhD at the telephone or address below. If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you have the right to file a complaint with the Privacy Officer at Elizabeth Poynor MD PLLC or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The complaint must be in writing, describe the acts or omissions that you believe violate your privacy rights, and be filed within 180 days of when you knew or should have known that the act or omission occurred. We will take no retaliatory action against you if you make such complaints.
The contact information for both is included below:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Secretary 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Tel: (202) 619-0257 Toll Free: 1-877-696-6775 http://www.hhs.gov/contacts.
Elizabeth Poynor MD PLLC Elizabeth Poynor MD PhD Privacy Officer 157 East 81st Street New York, New York 10028 T. 212.426.2700 F. 212.426.4657
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES AVAILABILITY This notice will be prominently posted in the office where registration occurs. You will be provided a hard copy, at the time we first deliver services to you. Thereafter, you may obtain a copy upon request, and the notice will be maintained on the organization’s Web site at www.poynorhealthnewyork.com for downloading.