Referrals and Managed Care Issues
We make every effort to cooperate with your managed care programs and their policies regarding referrals and pre-certification. We do this because we understand the benefits of HMO programs and the decreased costs to our patients because of HMO availability. However, one of the requirements of HMOs is to make referrals to specialists and to pre-certify various procedures and hospitalizations.

As a general rule, our practice will not make referrals to specialists if you have not been seen in our office for the problem related to the referral. We will also not make a referral if you have never been seen in our offices, or if you have not been seen in our offices in the last 6 months. If you call our office because you need a referral, you will probably (unless it is for an ongoing chronic issue) be asked to come in.

We have agreed to follow these types of guidelines in order to participate with your insurance programs. Please assist us in cooperating with your HMO or PPO program. Thank you.