|
How much will a course of radiation therapy cost?
The cost varies based on the individual treatment plan. We can give you an estimate after a treatment plan has been established. The Billing Manager in each of our offices has a list of the procedure codes and charges our practice uses and will explain the billing procedures, review your insurance coverage and explain any patient responsibility during your financial planning meeting.
Do you bill me each day or at the end of a course of radiation therapy?
Charges are added to your account on a weekly basis and filed with your insurance company. Monthly, you will receive a statement for any balance that you are responsible for.
Whom do I call if I have a question on my account?
If you are a current patient, you may contact an Insurance/Billing
Coordinator at our central office at 407-872-7786 or 800-606-2520.
Do you submit claims on my behalf to my supplemental insurance carrier?
Yes. Once your primary insurance carrier has remitted payment to our office, as a courtesy to our patients, we will file a claim to your supplemental (secondary) insurance carrier. Often, the supplemental (secondary) plan will pay the patient directly. If we do not receive payment after sixty (60) days from the date we filed the claim, we will transfer the balance to the patient.
What do the procedure codes mean?
77280, 77285, 77290 -
SIMULATION: The hard table you were lying on for 30-45 minutes duplicates the position needed to treat your area. This is not the treatment machine, it's only a "simulator." The first setup is done here, and when your treatment devices are completed you will be placed on this table again for a position check to verify that we are shielding any area not to be treated. (Approx. 20 minutes)
77295 -
THREE DIMENSIONAL: A computer generated form of treatment planning utilizing three dimensional images to pinpoint the exact treatment area. This method allows less involvement of the tissues surrounding the tumor.
77332, 77333, 77334 -
TREATMENT DEVICES: These items are usually custom made for your specific treatment. They are necessary to maintain proper position, to modify the beam, and to protect parts of the body that are not to receive treatment.
77261, 77262,77263 -
TREATMENT PLAN: The physician formulates the goal of the therapy. He interprets the goal of the therapy and the special testing that has been done to assist with the treatment site and size. Using this information, he then decides the best plan of treatment for you. Now the doctor must draw, on the films or in the computer, to specify the areas for shielding, and determine the total dosage and the treatment schedule for your therapy.
77300 -
BASIC CALCULATION: There is a calculation performed for each field of your treatment area. Each time there is any change made to your treatment area new calculations are performed. These calculations accommodate the different depth doses for the radiation as well as the different target areas of treatment.
77305, 77310, 77315 -
ISODOSE PLANS: Once the basic calculation is completed the physicist then feeds the information into the computer to print the plans of treatment possible. The physician chooses the preferred plan for each field of your treatment area.
77321 -
SPECIAL TELETHERAPY: This accommodates the different planning required when using electron beam therapy.
77331 -
SPECIAL DOSIMETRY: A small probe or microchip is placed on each treatment field to measure the dose of radiation that each treatment field is receiving. This is to verify the proper dose is being received.
77427, 77431 -
WEEKLY PROFESSIONAL CARE: The physician is responsible for quality control of every aspect. This involves management of radiation treatments, including responsibility for supervising the technologists and radiation physicists. This also involves managing your day-to-day care related to the treatment, giving appropriate prescriptions and communicating with your referring physicians and other specialists involved in your care.
77470 -
SPECIAL TREATMENT PROCEDURE: This code, signifies that the physicians planning involved for the treatment given was more than the "normal." He needed to take into consideration the special way to treat the patient or other coinciding treatments being given.
77402, 77416 -
RADIATION TREATMENT DELIVERY: These codes reflect the daily treatment you received on the radiation therapy treatment machine. You may have the same code throughout your course of therapy, or you may have several different codes.
77301 -
IMRT PLANNING: The physician prescribes the dose and delineates the volumes (cancerous, at-risk, and normal tissues) for precise delivery of radiation treatment to address irregularly-shaped tumors. This technique allows for increasing the dose of radiation to the tumor while minimizing the dose to the normal, healthy tissues.
77432 -
STEREOTACTIC RADIOSURGERY TREATMENT MANAGEMENT: The physician prescribes and reviews the dose delivery and treatment parameters for this computer-assisted radiation therapy.
77776, 77777, 77778 -
INTERSTITIAL SOURCE APPLICATION: In a surgical procedure, the physician places radioactive source applicators directly within the tumor or at-risk tissues.
77781, 77782, 77783, 77784 -
REMOTE AFTERLOADING HDR APPLICATION: The physician determines the tumor or at-risk volume and places radioactive source applicators into the appropriate body cavity or tissues for the delivery of High-Dose Rate radiation treatment.
77326, 77327, 77328 -
BRACHYTHERAPY ISODOSE CALCULATION: The physician prescribes an intended dose to a specified point or volume. Calculations are then performed to determine the radiation distribution from the radioactive sources. The physician reviews these calculations to optimize the placement of the sources and to ensure an adequate dose to the tumor and at-risk tissues, while limiting the dose to the adjacent normal tissues.
|
|
