Billing & Insurance Information

Dr. Chakerian participates in the Santa Clara County IPA (SCCIPA) and requires authorization from your primary care doctor in order to be seen. Although Dr. Chakerian is not a participating provider of any of the PPO plans, you can be seen under your PPO plan and we will bill your insurance for you, as a courtesy to you.  After your insurance company pays its portion, you will be billed for any remaining balance.  For Blue Shield PPO plans, you will need to pay at the time of service.  We will bill your insurance, as with other PPO plans, and Blue Shield PPO will send you a check to cover the portion your insurance pays.

If you have any questions regarding your bill, or need any information regarding your insurance payments or our billing policies, please call Sierra Health Systems at 1-877-866-9877.  Our mailing address for payments is:

Maia Chakerian, M.D.
PO Box 7096
Stockton, CA  95267

A message to our patients: Dear Patient, As I strive to be responsive to my patients’ needs and to provide quality care in the field of pain medicine, I am faced with additional demands from 3rd parties and the government. Demands outside the scope of general medical care for patients are generally not reimbursed by insurance plans, but are time-consuming and require the expertise of a physician or nurse. Services that are not covered by your health plan will be billed to you at the time of service and will be charged as follows:

Office Charges

Telephone advice from Dr. Chakerian during office hours	Substituting for an office visit	$35 minimum or by hourly charge
Telephone advice after hours, weekends and holidays	This includes emergency and non-emergency calls Calling in prescriptions after hours	$50 minimum or by hourly charge
Photocopies of chart notes, test results		$0.25 per page plus $15/hr clerical
Medication prior authorization forms (requested by your insurance company)	TAR (requested by Medi-Cal)	$15
Written prescription of scheduled meds (e.g. opioids) on non-appointment days	72-hour notice required These prescriptions cannot be mailed by regular mail If you cannot pick up these prescriptions personally, you will need to send a designated person in your place with proper identification	$20
Written prescription for mail-order medications (non-scheduled meds) on non-appointment days	These prescriptions can be mailed to you if you provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope	$10
Disability forms/misc. forms	Depends on complexity of form and time involved in researching and filling out form	$25 per page minimum
DMV parking forms		$25
Medical-legal reports		Hourly charge plus costs copying, postage, clerical)
Miscellaneous services		per service (long distance charges, travel, etc.)
Missed appointments with less than 24 hours notice		New patient consultations $100 Follow-up visits $25 Surgeries/procedures $100
Co-pays not paid at time of visit		$10 extra billing charge
Returned checks		$20
Rebilling charge for incorrect insurance information		$25
AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE OF $25 will be applied for all forms requiring immediate attention!

Home
Treatments
Appointments