financialq&a
Congratulations on your pregnancy! Having a baby is for many of us the single most important and memorable experience in our lives. Our passion at Village Obstetrics™ is to help make the journey to motherhood (and fatherhood!) safe and happy.
Having a baby certainly is expensive, but we have worked hard at Village Obstetrics™ to find ways to make it affordable. Here are some financial questions and answers for your review:
Q. VillageOb is out-of-network. What does that mean to me?
A. Out-of-network means that we apply what your insurance pays towards the cost of your care at VOb and bill you for the difference.
Q. How much does care at VOb cost?
A. We have created three all-inclusive fees in response to patient feedback for a simpler way be able to know what to to expect financially. Your pregnancy will fit into one of these three fees.
Q. What are the three fee categories?
A. One fee is for general prenatal care and delivery. A second fee is for complex prenatal care and delivery. A third fee is for vaginal deliveries that require the largest investment of our time and skill - VBACs and vaginal twin deliveries.
Q. What is considered complex prenatal care and delivery?
A. Pregnancies with maternal medical complications like high blood pressure, diabetes, or pregnancy conditions like preterm labor, or insufficient cervix.
Q. What is covered in these fees?
A. This fee will cover 100% of your care at VOb including in-office sonograms, consults and other procedures or surgeries.
Q. Are there other costs?
A. The only other costs will be for any care outside of VillageOb. This might include sonograms, labs and hospital charges, but most of these are likely 100% covered by your insurance.
Q. How exactly will I be billed?
A. When you decide to come to VOb you will sign a contract for care which includes which fee schedule your pregnancy falls into. You will also have an estimate of your total costs after insurance and pay an initial deposit.
Q. Can I pay the VOb bill over time?
A. We are happy to spread the payments over the course of your care at VOb. Our insurance expert will estimate for you what your insurance will likely pay. She will divide the expected difference into monthly payments over the course of your care. Once your insurance pays for your care we will calculate if there is an underpayment or overpayment. If you overpay we will refund you immediately. If you underpay we will apply the difference to your credit card.
Q. How will VOb bill my insurance?
A. Over the course of your care there are many separate items that can be billed -- blood draws, consults, sonograms, hospital admissions, etc. We will bill all these separate procedures to help you collect as much as possible from your health insurance plan so the amount you owe at the end is as little as possible. Don't be concerned by these bills. They represent our effort to bill accurately and fairly and capture for you everything that your insurance will pay in order to help you owe as little as possible.
Q. Why should I pay for VOb when I can see a doctor on my plan without additional costs?
A. We are really proud of the intimate care and attention we give all our patients. We are really proud of our results. Our patients overall are thrilled with their care. We know VOb is expensive but unfortunately it is costly to run the office the way we do. We feel strongly that the expense is worth the quality of the expert care you will get or we wouldn't do it this way. We really love this work and have dedicated our lives to doing it with excellence, kindness and imagination.
Q. Who should I call with additional financial questions?
A. For any unique circumstances please discuss with our Practice Administrator Sara Tucker and our Financial Assistant, Anna Kocur, listed below.
Practice Consultant, Sara Tucker
contact email: sara@villageob.com
phone: 212.741.2229
Financial Assistant, Anna Kocur
contact email: anna@villageob.com
phone: 914.589.9217