Paying for Your Visit

At Columbine Hearing Care, our patients are our number one priority. We strive to provide the best in hearing healthcare while also keeping your needs in mind. We understand that treating hearing loss can be a strain on your budget, therefore we have several options to make paying for your visit as easy and affordable as possible.

We are a participating Medicare Part B provider, so hearing testing may be billed to Medicare if there is a medical concern.  We are NOT in-network with any of the Medicare Advantage Plans or any other commercial insurance carriers, however, we will provide you with a detailed itemized invoice that you may submit to your insurance company for reimbursement.  We understand that patients want to use insurance benefits for hearing care.  However, decades of working in hearing healthcare have proven that insurance “coverage” for hearing services, especially hearing aids, is not as good as the insurance carriers want you to believe.  We’ve chosen not to play the insurance “games” which allows us to keep our prices much lower than average.  Often we can match or beat the “discounted” prices offered by your insurance plan, and most patients find that they end up paying less out-of-pocket for our assessment and treatment fees than they would have paid if they’d used their insurance.  So please don’t let this deter you from seeking exceptional care from our experienced and compassionate providers.

Basic Visit Fees

For most of our services, we operate at an hourly rate of $200/hour.  Here’s a breakdown of our most common appointment types and the associated fees:

• 30-minute appointment for basic testing or hearing aid adjustment: $100
• 60-minute appointment for basic testing and hearing aid adjustment: $200
• 60-minute appointment for comprehensive testing and treatment consultation: $200
• Ear wax removal appointment: $125 (This is a set fee, regardless of the visit length – it includes cerumen removal, video otoscopy, and tympanometry.)

Paying for Your Visit: Hearing Loss Treatment

The professional treatment of hearing loss involves much more than simply purchasing hearing aids.  There are extensive hearing evaluations, assessments, fine-tuning, and ongoing maintenance visits that are critical for ensuring the best treatment outcomes.  For this reason, we utilize a bundled treatment model that includes all of your products, visits, and services for a specified amount of time.  We offer four ways to pay for this all-inclusive treatment:

1. Elite Membership Package

• Premium technology, comprehensive service plan, discounted upgrades, monthly payment option
• CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

2. Pay-in-Full Treatment Program

• Economy-level technology starting at $3200/pair
• Premium-level technology starting at $4800/pair
• CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

3.  Financed Treatment Program

• No-interest financing options  Care Credit (see below)
• Low monthly payments with no interest for 12-15 months

4. Monthly Rental Program

• $150/month
• Premium-level technology
• Monthly clinic visits are required and included

Flexible Financing

Care Credit (12-month no-interest financing)

We want you to be able to get the hearing technology that’s best for your needs and lifestyle. That’s why we offer flexible financing options with approved credit through CareCredit®. This line of credit allows you to make convenient monthly payments for a predetermined period.

CareCredit® offers online account management and bill pay and online or in-office sign-up. If you are approved, you have access to a revolving line of credit that’s accepted by hundreds of medical, dental and veterinary providers.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY FOR FINANCING THROUGH CARE CREDIT

Treatment for All

We will never turn away a patient in need of hearing healthcare.  Our non-profit organization, Hearing the Call – Colorado, is one of several options to help our Littleton friends and neighbors who cannot afford hearing loss treatment.

No Surprises Act

Columbine Hearing Care is committed to complying with the federal No Surprises Act and Colorado state regulations involving surprise billing and balance billing.  This form contains various disclosures pursuant to these laws.

Your Rights and Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills

When you are a private pay patient or get treated by an out-of-network provider, you are protected from surprise billing or balance billing.

What is “balance billing” (sometimes called “surprise billing”)?

When you see us for your health care needs, especially if we are out-of-network with your health insurance plan, you may owe certain out-of-pocket costs such as a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible.

Out-of-network means that we have not signed a contract with your health plan to provide services.  As a result, we may be allowed to bill you for the difference between what your plan pays and the full amount we charge for a service.  This is called “balance billing” and may result in a more expensive bill for you that might not count toward your plan’s deductible or annual out-of-pocket limit.

Surprise billing is an unexpected balance bill.  This can happen when you can’t control who is involved in your care – like when you have an emergency or when you schedule a visit at an in-network facility but are unexpectedly treated by an out-of-network provider.

You are protected from surprise billing in certain circumstances:

• Emergency services.  If you have an emergency medical condition and get emergency services from an out-of-network provider or facility, the most the provider or facility may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount (such as copayments and coinsurance).  You can’t be balance billed for these post-stabilization services.  The No Surprises Act defines which types of services fall into these categories.
• Certain services at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center.  When you receive services from an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, certain providers there may be out-of-network.  In these cases, the most those providers may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount.  This applies to emergency medicine, anesthesia, pathology, radiology, laboratory, neonatology, assistant surgeon, hospitalist, or intensivist services.  These providers can’t balance bill you and may not ask you to give up your protections not to be balance billed.  If you get other services at these in-network facilities, out-of-network providers can’t balance bill you unless you give written consent.  You’re never required to give your consent.  You also aren’t required to get care out-of-network.  You can choose a provider or facility in your plan’s network.
• Uninsured / Self-Pay Patients.  Some provisions of the No Surprises Act are inapplicable to patients who are uninsured or who are self-pay.  Instead, uninsured/self-pay patients are generally entitled to a “good faith estimate” for non-emergency services.

You are never required to give up your protection from balance billing.  You also aren’t required to get out-of-network care.  You can choose a provider or facility in your plan’s network.

When balance billing isn’t allowed, you also have these protections:

• You’re only responsible for paying your share of the cost (like the copayments, coinsurance, and deductible that you would pay if the provider or facility was in-network).
• Your health plan will pay any additional costs to out-of-network providers and facilities directly.
• Generally, your health plan must:
  • Cover emergency services without requiring you to get approval for services in advance (also known as “prior authorization”).
  • Cover emergency services by out-of-network providers.
  • Base what you owe the provider or facility (cost-sharing) on what it would pay an in-network provider or facility and show that amount in your explanation of benefits.
  • Count any amount you pay for emergency services or out-of-network services toward your in-network deductible and out-of-pocket limit.

If you believe you’ve been wrongly billed, first contact the provider that sent you the bill and your health plan for an explanation.  If they can’t resolve your concerns or for more information, you can contact the United States Department of Health and Human Services (https://www.coms.gov/nosurprises)

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 800-985-3059