Desert Family Medical Center, the Offices of Erik G. Palmer, D.O. believes that continuity and accuracy of your healthcare is of utmost importance to you. We believe that thoroughness in medical health care comes from subscribing to a health plan (medical health insurance) that is most suitable for your medical conditions and needs.

Our office is committed in correct diagnoses for your ailments and care coordination. In order to be able to provide this level of quality care it is required that all our patients are subscribers to a health plan that we accept.

Health Plans

Effective October 1st, 2020, our offices are accepting new patients whom are subscribers to the following health plans listed below.
Desert Oasis Healthcare (www.mydohc.com)
Medicare Advantage Plans:
Aetna Medicare
Alignment Health Plan
Anthem Blue Cross
Blue Shield 65 Plus
Blue Shield Promise
Easy Choice Health Plan
Golden State Medicare Health Plan
Health Net
Humana
Inter Valley Health Plan
SCAN Health Plan
United Healthcare

For our established patients, you must be with a plan that we are contracted with otherwise; we will not be able to serve your medical health needs. If you have any questions about which plans for established patients are accepted please call our office at (760) 323-4272.

At each visit please bring your most current medical health insurance card. If you do not bring your card, DFMC will require you to sign our Payment Policy at Desert Family Medical Center.

To our valued patients both new and established, your medical health insurance card changes yearly for various reasons. It is required you bring your new card at your visit if you receive one otherwise you will have to reschedule your appointment until. Your medical health insurance card will assist us to guide you through your medical health care process. Thank you for your cooperation.

Health Plan and Billing Policies

Our goal at DFMC is to make your visit free of conflict and focus on your healthcare needs. We require that each patient and/or their caregivers adhere to the following guidelines:

  • All patients are required to understand and know their own medical health insurance plans. Desert Family Medical Center is not responsible for any treatments or medications that are not covered by your plan. It is the patient’s and /or their caretaker’s responsibility to contact their own insurance companies to make sure about the coverage they are receiving under their policies.
  • Patients may NOT discuss their medical health insurance policy or any political issues related to medical coverage with the providers. Please refer insurance issues with your agent or company that you are covered by. Our medical offices are not responsible for knowing your policy.
  • All co-payments are due at the time of the patient’s appointment. We reserve the right to refuse service if co-payment is not rendered. This office accepts cash, MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover cards, and money orders for payment. We do not accept personal or corporate checks for co-payments at this office. Payments must be rendered before seeing medical provider.
  • All patient bill balances are due within 30-days of receipt of bill. Patient balances that are over 90-days due will be sent to collections, and this office reserves the right to discharge patients with overdue balances.
  • If a patient is not able to make their appointment, it is required they contact our office 24-hours in advance. A $25.00 charge will be billed to patients for any missed appointment, if it is not cancelled within 24-hours.
  • All patients will be charged a MINIMUM of $25.00 for any medical records, medical forms or other forms (i.e. DMV forms, school forms, etc.) that require the doctor/medical provider’s review and/or signature. This fee is due at the time of submitting forms to our office. Longer and more complex forms will be charge at a higher rate to be determined at the time of review. Each form is charged separately, hence one signature per form. There are no exceptions to this situation regardless of patient’s fiscal situation
  • If the patient believes there is an error with the coding for their medical diagnoses and treatment plan; it is the patient’s responsibility to contact their health plan and discuss what the correct coding should reflect. This office is not obligated to make a correction unless it is supported with valid documentation.
Billing

Your co-payment is required at the time of your appointment. No exceptions, we reserve the right to refuse treatment if we do not receive payment. This office only accepts cash, MasterCard, VISA, Discover and American Express at this time.

We do not accept personal or corporate checks for co-payments. As a service to our patients, we will bill your health plans for services you receive. After your health plan company pays their portion; you may receive a bill depending on your health plan policy from our office for the remainder of your bill that your health plan does not cover based on your contract. These billing statements are due within 30 days of your receipt. After 90 days, any unpaid portion of the bill will be sent to collections.

Please remember that your health plan is a consumer product subject to change; and if you change health plans during the course of treatment, you are accountable for all charges.

Questions with Your Billing

Desert Family Medical Center has the privilege to have our medical billing contracted with Platinum Medical Billing. Their dedicated team can answer questions about your bill, overdue statements and questions with the billing process. They can be reached at (760) 459-1579, Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Billing questions are handled by Platinum Medical Billing, as they are team that are experts in this field.