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Welcome to The Ear
Center of Greensboro, P.A. We have been committed to providing the best
ear care and hearing restoration
Our team of highly qualified surgeons and audiologists are dedicated to
comprehensive hearing restoration through Click here to see a comprehensive list of Our Services. Click here to read our Mission Statement. During the first visit, you or your child will have a thorough review of your medical history and a complete head & neck examination. To facilitate the visit, we request that you complete our Registration and Medical History Forms and bring them with you to your appointment. You may also fax them to us at (336) 273-9936 or mail them to us. At this time, there is not an option to email them to us. If you or your child wear hearing aids, please bring them with you to your appointment even if they are not operational and are not being worn. Please remember to bring a list of your current medications and your current insurance card. Other specific information is provided below. We look forward to meeting you soon. Please call us at (336) 273-9932 if you have any questions that are not answered on our web site. Our physicians, Eric M. Kraus, M.D., M.S., and Su Wooi Teoh, M.D., M.S., are otologists (physicians who care for the ear and perform ear surgery). They are both certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology. Dr. Kraus is a Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and Fellow of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Their knowledge, experience, and research enables them to offer you highly specialized treatment for your ear problem(s). Within the field of ear surgery, our physicians have particular skills. Therefore, you may be guided to a particular surgeon to help you with your individual condition. For more information about each of our physicians, click on their names below: Eric M. Kraus, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.S.
Audiology Services & Special Tests We maintain a full service audiology department complete with audiometric test equipment, sound rooms, and a large field speaker configuration. We perform basic comprehensive audiometry, tympanometry, acoustic reflex and decay testing, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE's), auditory brainstem response and auditory steady state response testing, electronystagmography (balance testing), central auditory processing testing, digital hearing aid fitting and programming, cochlear implant fitting and mapping, BAHA fitting and adjustments, and computer programming of the investigational Esteem™ totally implantable hearing device. We even have a hearing aid repair laboratory on site in order to provide minor hearing aid repair services. Occasionally, special tests are needed to make a diagnosis. By maintaining sophisticated laboratory equipment within our office, we can often provide a diagnosis for our patients with a minimum of inconvenience.
Our office, The Ear
Center of Greensboro, P.A. along with our Hearing Aid and Implant Center, is located on the second floor of the "Church Street
Medical Building", 1126 N. Church Street, Suite 201. The "Church Street
Medical Building" is located directly across the street from the Moses Cone
Day Surgery Center. A large, free, convenient parking
garage is located directly behind our building. The
Click here for a map and directions to The Ear Center of Greensboro, P.A.
Hours: Our Business Office hours are from 9:00am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. We do not have Saturday or evening hours. The office is closed daily from 12:00pm - 1:00pm for lunch. The office is closed on Easter Friday, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving (and the day after Thanksgiving), Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day, and New Years Day.
The Ear Center of Greensboro, P.A. participates in the following Health Plans: 1. Blue Cross Blue Shield 2. United Healthcare 3. Med Cost 4. Great Western 5. Aetna 6. Medicare 7. Medicaid children At this time, we do not participate with Cigna or Champus.
Financial & Payment Information Payment at the time of service: Due to ever increasing medical costs, we request payment for office services at the time that the services are rendered, unless you are covered by an insurance plan with which we participate (see section above entitled "Health Plan Participation" for a list of plans). Referrals: If you belong to a managed care or HMO program that requires a referral, you must present a valid written or verbal authorization before being seen by our doctors. Participating plans: As specified by your insurance company, co-payment and deductibles are due at the time of your office visit. We will file a claim form with your insurance company for you. Non-participating plans: If you are covered by an insurance plan that we do not participate with, we ask for payment in full at the time of service. We will give you a claim form to file with your insurance company so that you may be reimbursed by your plan. If you can not supply us with insurance information, you may be seen as a personal pay patient, and we will collect in full for your visit. Surgery: Prior to your surgical procedure, our office will contact your insurance company to verify benefits and check notification requirements. Any copay, coinsurance, or deductibles will be the patient’s responsibility, and payment of these will be handled through our surgery coordinator. Billing: Statements are mailed monthly and are due within 15 days of the statement date. Medicaid: A current Medicaid card must be presented at each visit. If your Medicaid is Carolina Access, we must have an authorization number from your primary provider (that is listed on the card) in order to see you. If your card has the wrong provider listed, this must be corrected prior to your visit. If a patient is expecting to receive Medicaid benefits, does not have current coverage, and wishes to be seen as a personal pay patient, we will be glad to see you. However, we do not do retroactive filing to Medicaid. Once you receive your Medicaid coverage, we will file all future claims for you. However, we do not refile old dates of service. Forms & Medical Records: Our office charges a minimal fee for the copying of medical records and for filling out forms. The fee will be determined at the time of the request and is based on number of pages copied or length of time to complete the forms. All requests for medical records must be accompanied by a release of information form signed by the patient or legal guardian.
Heath Savings Accounts (HSA's) Health savings accounts or HSA's are becoming more popular. Due to the high deductibles often associated with HSA's, we do ask that all visits be paid in full at the time of service. If you have met your deductible, please bring to your visit your latest "explanation of benefits" (EOB) from your insurance company. If your deductible has not been met, please be prepared to pay in full at the time of check-out. To make payment easier for you, we do accept Visa and Master Card for payment.
Due to North Carolina state law, we require that a patient, who is a minor (defined in NC as a child who is under the age of 18 years), be accompanied to all appointments by a parent or legal guardian. This is necessary before any evaluation or treatment can be performed by our physicians. A 17 year old child, who is able to drive, still needs to have a parent or legal guardian in attendance or non-emergent care cannot be provided.
Primary Care Prior Authorization Depending on your plan, you may require prior authorization from your primary care doctor. It is the patient's responsibility to obtain the prior authorization. If you are unable to obtain the prior authorization, please notify us in advance at (336) 273-9932 so that we may reschedule your appointment.
Following a new patient visit, we will send a consultation letter to your referring doctor discussing your diagnosis and treatment plan, unless we are directed otherwise. If you request special letters that may require additional time or data (letters for disability or communications with insurance carriers, employers, public agencies, attorneys, etc,) or copies of your medical records, there will be an additional fee for preparation and copying. A fee list for special communications and records may be obtained from our business office. We do require a written request from you and/or a signed "release of medical records form" prior to sending the information. Please let us know about any specific questions that need to be addressed or any additional instructions that you might have.
Because of an increase in missed appointments for both new and return patients, $30.00 fee will be billed for missed appointments for which we have not been notified within 24 hours. If you are unable to keep your scheduled appointment for any reason, please contact us at (336) 273-9932 so that we may make that appointment time available to other patients.
If you need to have your prescription(s) refilled, the most efficient way is to give your pharmacist the prescription number from the bottle label. We recommend having your prescriptions refilled 1-2 days before the refill is needed in order to avoid missing a dose of your medication. If you do not have your bottle, please call our nurses at (336) 273-9932, during regular business hours, to request a refill. It is our policy not to refill prescriptions after hours or during the weekend. Patients who are on long term medications, such as water pills (diuretics), will be required to see their physician intermittently even though they may be doing well. We require this is in order to update any changes in history and/or physical examination. The interval may be 6 months for some patients and one year for others depending on the patient's individual needs. Our policy is not only good medical practice but is required by North Carolina state law to avoid inadvertent problems.
To
schedule an appointment, inquire about your billing, or to obtain information
not available on our website, please call us at Questions that require a
physician's reply may be directed to a nurse and will be answered by return
phone call -- on the same day
Our physicians share on-call responsibilities with other otolaryngologists who practice in the Greensboro community. A physician is always available on-call 24/7 to provide consultation or care. To reach the on-call physician, please call (336) 273-9932.
In cases of EMERGENCY, please call (336) 273-9932. Our telephone line is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are unable to connect, please hang up and dial "911". Thank you for choosing us for your specialty medical and surgical care of your ear. Our entire staff looks forward to seeing you soon! You may call us at (336) 273-9932 for any questions.
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DISCLAIMER: Please note that this web site is not designed to, and does not, provide medical advice. All of our content, including text, graphics, images, photographs, charts, maps, information, etc. that has been made available on or through this web site, is provided for general information purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for obtaining professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Do not delay in seeking medical advice and do not disregard professional medical advice once obtained because of information that you have obtained on this web site. It is a good idea to never rely on information from this web site, or any web site, in place of seeking up-to-date, professional medical advice. For additional information, please see our main Disclaimer Page.
Copyright © 2009 by The Ear Center of Greensboro, P.A. All rights
reserved.
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