Billing & insurance info

Every health insurance plan has different benefits and inclusions and exclusions. Firstly, our physician must be in your plan’s network in order for you to be eligible for coverage. Always contact your insurance provider before any initial visit to any medical facility to find out if the physician and the facility is in your plan’s network and to know what you should expect when it comes to your coverage regarding certain services, like a stem cell/bone marrow transplant. It is your responsibility as the patient to educate yourself and become knowledgeable of what your insurance benefits cover. This is the key to preventing surprise charges from arising due to insurance non-payment.

An Explanation of Benefits (EOB) is a statement that you receive from your insurance provider that details recent services and their charges along with your plan’s benefit payments. It is not a bill, and you are not expected to make any payment based on its receipt.

If you receive a bill from an outside laboratory or clinic like ACL or a radiologist's office for the services rendered by one of those facilities, it is most likely a result of your insurance provider not fully covering your tests. If this happens, directly contact your insurance provider for more information as to why the tests were not covered and if there is a way to resolve the issue. In many cases, the claim for your tests can be updated and resubmitted with diagnoses that meet the terms of a “medical necessity” and can be approved for payment by your insurance provider. If that is the case, call our billing department at 630-645-2400, and we can assist you in the process.

The medical billing claim submission process can be fairly complex at times, and, in these cases, claims may require a number of adjustments and resubmissions in order for us to obtain payment approval from a health insurance company. If you are receiving a bill for services that date back to months ago it is most likely because your claim had to be adjusted and resubmitted more than once in order for us to obtain an approved payment. Another frequent reason is because your insurance company may be holding the claim in review, which in turn delays any kind of payment or response. There are a number of reasons why claims can be delayed for payment or processing, which in turn delays your statement, but we are always doing our best to get your claims processed in a timely manner.

Every service in the medical industry is represented by a Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code. These codes are used on a patient’s medical claim to represent the services they received. The claim is ultimately submitted to insurance providers for processing and payment.

If you received a letter regarding your balance requesting a prompt reply and payment or stating you could be sent to collections soon, contact our billing office at 630-645-2400 with any questions, payments or concerns as soon as possible. We are always willing to work with you regarding any owed account balances, so please don’t hesitate to call.

Yes, we do accept patients who do not have health insurance. Those patients are considered “Self Pay” patients. Generally, Self Pay patients pay a fee prior to meeting with one of our physicians. What a patient’s Self Pay rate will be is decided prior to the scheduled visit or transaction so that both parties are aware and comfortable with the payment conditions.

Depending on a patient’s circumstances, those who do not have health insurance may qualify for financial aid. Learn about Advocate Health Care's charity care assistance.

You can reach our billing department by calling 630-645-2400.