Practice Policies

Welcome to Zinnanti Institute for Neuroscience, the medical practice and research facility

of William Zinnanti MD, PhD.

Please carefully read the following practice policies which contain an overview of important information about the office policies of this practice. Feel free to ask any questions regarding these policies either in person or by email through our contact page on this site. We want to insure that the decision to receive care from this practice is on that is well informed.

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Appointments: Appointments typical are scheduled on regular business days and usually between the hours of 10am to 4pm. While an attempt to accommodate schedules of clients is made, preferred appointment times are not always available. An initial visit is scheduled as a 90 minute appointment and can only be scheduled at certain times and on certain days of the week.

Follow-up appointments are scheduled as 20-30 minute. 

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Phone Calls: There is no charge for calls lasting shorter than 5 minutes. but phone calls lasting 5 minutes or longer will be billed based on the length of time of the call. Please note that insurance companies do not typically pay or reimburse for phone appointments. Since clients are usually being seen during regular business hours, phone calls are typically not returned during those times but usually either shortly before 8:00 am or during the early evening hours. Messages left on week days between 8am-5pm will typically be responded to sometime that same day or usually at least by the evening of the next business day. Messages left after 5pm on weekdays or any times on the weekends or holidays often will bot be heard until the following business day and then responded to as above.

With an emergency or urgent matter that need more immediate attention such as in the case involving anyone's safety (as in cased of suicidal intent, homicidal intent, physical aggression, and/or severe adverses reactions to medications) Please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

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Services Not Directly related to Treatment: For items such as letters, forms, or calls made to agencies on a patients behalf, patients are charged for the time involved to complete the task unless it is done within the time of a visit with the patient. Such charges are not usually reimbursed by insurances.

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Missed Appointments, Late Cancellations and Late Appointments: Missed appointments and

late cancellations will result in a charge for the full scheduled session fee. Please note that health insurance plans do not pay for missed appointments leaving these charges completely to the responsibility of the patient, even in the case of singe case agreements. To avoid this charge, appointments must be cancelled with 48 business hour advance notice. If late to an appointment, a patient may still be seen up until 10 minutes into the scheduled visit but will be charged the full appointment fee.

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Fees and Payment of Services: Patients under the care of this practice agree to be responsible for the payment of all services provided to them by this practice. This practice does not typically get involved with medical insurance companies and is not part of any insurance panels such as HMOs or PPOs nor contracted with Medicare or Medical. While it is regrettable that may present a hardship to some patients, this practice is not able or routinely does not attempt to acquire reimbursement directly via insurance claims. Full payment is expected at the beginning of each service provided. Invoices are provided which a client may submit directly to their insurance for their own direct reimbursement. This may not be done with Medicare, however, and any patients with Medicare agree not to submit their invoice to Medicare. Any assistance with various insurance related forms can only by handled during scheduled appointment visits and is not managed outside of these times.​

Accounts not paid according to the terms and conditions described above may lead referral for collection and information necessary to effect collection will be released to the collection agent. Unpaid accounts may also lead to termination of care with any patient until the fees have been paid. Should it become necessary to file suit in this context, the patient agrees to pay any court/attorney fees.

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Privacy and Release of Information: The law protects confidentiality of all communications between a patient and their medical provider, with some exceptions mandated by legal statute. For a more in-depth coverage of privacy practices please refer to the notice of privacy practices. In general, treatment information is kept confidential unless consent for release of information has been provided by the patient. However, confidentiality may be broken under a limited number of circumstances such as: In cases of suspected abuse of a minor, a vulnerable or elderly adult, or a disabled person. a report must be filed and contact be made with the appropriate state agency.

With threats of serious harm against others, protective actions are required which may include notifying the potential victim, notifying the police, or seeking appropriate hospitalization for the client making such a threat.

If a patient threatens harm to themselves, protection of the patient may be necessary. This might require hospitalization which could involve the police or emergency personnel to safely transport the patient to the hospital as well as communication with the hospital staff, or contact with family members or other who can help provide protection to the patient. 

Legally mandated breach of confidentiality would include a court order to release information. In tis case of a subpoena of treatment records by an attorney, a protective order from the court to prevent this release may be obtained by the patient. if a patient or the parent is party to a child custody litigation at any time in the future, the court may order release of information about the treatment provided in this practice. Also in situations in which a patient brings a complaint to legal action against a treatment provider confidentiality may be broken.

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Agreement with Office Policies: After you have had the opportunity to read and ask questions regarding this document, you will be asked to sign the document conveying your understanding of the terms of this document, your agreement to abide by them and your consent to receive  neurologic services for yourself or children.

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​You can be assured – Dr. Zinnanti is committed to excellence when it comes to the level of care he provides

 

 

 

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