Frequently Asked Questions

+ Will I still need medical insurance?

We recommend that you still have medical insurance for catastrophic health occurrences, in case you require specialized laboratory tests, and for certain prescription drug coverage.

+ Is Direct Care medicine also known as Concierge Medicine?

With concierge medicine, individuals typically pay a large yearly retainer fee and services are still billed to insurance.

With direct care, the services in the office are not billed to insurance. What you pay has already been discussed with you and is rendered either after your appointment/service completion or included in your monthly membership.

+ Why would a patient or a doctor choose a Direct Medical Care model?

For patients, the benefits include:

• Access to your direct-care doctor without having to worry if he/she is considered ‘in-network’ by your insurance plan
• Ability to be seen within days of booking an appointment, frequently the same or next day
• Long appointments that are unrushed and in-depth
• Assurance that you can easily contact and communicate with your doctor. No substitutes in your care

For doctors, the benefits include:

• Smaller patient panels which means more time spent with each patient
• Ability to offer timely follow-up and see their patients at each visit, instead of having to delegate follow-up care to someone else
• Removal of unnecessary administrative burdens imposed by insurances -- time saved can be reinvested back into working closely with patients to personalize treatment plans and closely follow progress
• Ability to offer innovative treatment plans that are otherwise limited or unavailable in an insurance-based model

+ Can I be reimbursed for some of the costs?

Some insurance plans that include out of network benefits (P.P.O.s) will offer a percentage reimbursement to their members for services rendered outside of their typical network-covered services. If this is true for you, we are happy to provide you with a superbill that you can submit to your insurance to see if you can get some reimbursement. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that you will receive reimbursement for our services from your insurance.

+ Do you accept Medicare or Medicaid?

No, we have opted out of both Medicare and Medicaid. If you have either, you can absolutely still be a member of Summon Health, but our services to you will be billed directly to you and not submitted to Medicare or Medicaid.

+ When is payment due for service?

This depends on which engagement level you have opted for. If you have enrolled in one of the membership plans, you can decide how you would like to be billed (e.g. monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or once a year).

If you have elected a ‘per-service’ fee, then payment is due at end of your appointment or service.

+ What forms of payment do you accept?

We accept cash, check, debit, and all major credit cards.

+ Can I use my Health Savings Account (HSA) / Health Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA) / Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) to pay for my medical care at Summon Health?

Individuals can generally use the funds in these accounts for qualified medical expenses, which broadly include the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease. This will apply to the medical care you receive at Summon Health.