POLICY REGARDING SECONDARY SURGERY

All surgery deals with living tissue. The healing process and the body’s response to surgery varies from person to person. Therefore results can never be guaranteed.

In some cases, secondary touch-ups may be required. An area of concern regarding secondary surgery is the cost to the patient. The cost to you will depend on the nature of the original procedure and the nature of the secondary surgery. The original surgery may have been either medically indicated and covered by insurance, or cosmetic in nature and not covered by insurance. The secondary surgery may also be medically indicated or requested by you for cosmetic reasons. Accordingly, one the following situations may exist.

1. INSURANCE COVERED.

Your insurance will have covered all or part of your expenses for your original surgery. You are responsible for the part of expenses your insurance company does not cover. Secondary surgery, if required, may be covered by your insurance company depending on your particular policy. We will assist you in obtaining surgical preauthorization if necessary. If your insurance company determines that the secondary surgery is cosmetic in nature and not covered, you will be responsible for expenses. Expenses include the surgeon’s fee, the facility fee and anesthesia costs.

Examples include revision of a scar following breast reconstruction or skin cancer excision.

2. COSMETIC SURGERY – SURGICAL TOUCH-UP.

If after your cosmetic surgery, there are areas which both you and your surgeon feel warrant a touch-up to achieve the optimal result, this surgery will be done without a surgeon’s fee. You will, however, be responsible for the facility fee, equipment and supplies and anesthesia fees. Examples include revising an unsatisfactory face-lift scar, treatment of significant asymmetry following cosmetic breast surgery, or refining an area of liposuction.

3. COSMETIC SURGERY – PATIENT REQUEST FOR REVISION OR REPEAT SURGERY.

If after your cosmetic surgery, there are areas which you personally desire revised, touched-up or repeated and the surgeon feels that you have had a satisfactory outcome from your surgery, this will be considered a new surgical procedure and you will be responsible for expenses. Expenses include the surgeon’s fee, the facility fee, equipment, and anesthesia costs. Examples include a secondary facelift, changing the size or shape of breast implants, redoing an area of liposuction after weight gain.

These notes are provided for your information in an attempt to clarify our approach to billing secondary surgical procedures. If you have any questions or if this information is unclear to you, please contact the office for further explanation.