WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PERSONAL INJURY PROTECTION (PIP)

The physicians and staff at Florida Institute understand that being injured in an automobile accident can be extremely stressful and frightening even for you and your family. Throughout your treatment, various responisibilites will be asked of you to ensure your medical bills are billed and reimbursed properly. Throughout your treatment, various responsibilites will be asked of you to ensure your medical bills are billed reimbursed properly. Following the advice of our physicians is imperative to ensure that you recieve the best medical treatment. Not adhearing to some of these guidelines can drastically affect how your insurance provider may cover your medical bills. Should you have any quetions converning information contained within this site please do not hesitate to ask our friendly, knowledgeable staff.

Florida Spine Institute Personal Injury Protection Guidelines

The following are some of the standard protocols that the Florida Spine Institute follow to help their patients with their medical needs when it involves a Personal Injury case.

PIP Insurance information - Your automobile insurance coompay will issue you a cetain claim number for your accident. This must be submitted to us along with your insurance company's contact information.

Attorney Information - Some patients retain the services of personal attorneys to represent them in the event of an accident. If this happens to be the case, our practice needs the contact information of your attorney to ensure that all aspects of your case are handled properly during your treatment here at the Florida Spine Institute.

Medical Records / Medical Images - Please remember to  provide our practive with any or all medical records / images related to your injury that we are treating. This will provide us with a greater ability to provide you with the best medical treatment.

Health Insurance - It is extremely importantto provide our office with your health insurance information. If your PIP benefits have exhausted alternate plans must be made to cover your remaining medical expenses. Your member indentification number and other pertinentinformation must be on file to ensure that proper billing of your medical bills are completed. At times, not providing this information is a timely facshion, can leave the patient FULLY responsible for the entire medical expense.

Patient Financial Responsibility- Once your PIP insurance has exhausted, your medical health insurance company will be billed if applicable. After they have paid their portion, the remaining balance is the patient's responsibility regardless of who was at fault during the accident. If your attorney chooses, he/she may issue a letter of protection on your behalf.

PIP Signatures Folders - The automobile insurance companies mandate we provide them with a signature log of every visit that patient attends. If this signature log, which is kept at FSI, is not signed by the patient the insurance company may not cover your medical expenses or if the payment was made, the insurance company may ask for the disbursed funds to be refunded and in both cases the patient becomes responsible for outstanding balances.

Florida Spine Institute Patient Financing - To help assist our patients with the financial responsibility that may occur during this type of event, we provide patient financing. If you qualify, our program entitles you to serveral options including "Interest Free Financing" or "9.9% Financing." Ask about this great payment option called CareCredit.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) - An extension of car insurance available in some states which covers medical expenses and, in some cases, lost wages and other damages. PIP pays off regardless of who is at fault and is mandatory in some states, especially those with "no-fault" laws. Typically, most PIP coverage will cover 80% of the first $10,000 of your claim.

Exhausted PIP Benefits - Once the benefits for your PIP coverage have reached their term limits, this benefit will be terminated.

Independent Medical Examiner (IME) - A physician or other healthcare provider not involved in the patients care performs medical evaluations (IME's) to provide information for case management and evidence in hearings and other legal proceeedings.

Letter of Protection (LOP) - A "Letter of Protection" is a document that gives the patient the ability to keep treating without paying for the medical bills at the time of treatment. See the information on the website for more information.