Policies

Medical records requests require up to 14 business days to fulfill.

A medical records form must be either:

• Completed in our office in it’s entirety, signed by the patient or legal representative, witnessed by a CCNC employee and dated appropriately.
• We will accept a completed, HIPAA compliant request form from another doctor’s office or entity.

The fee schedule is as dictated by the North Carolina General Statutes 90-411 and is as follows:

To pick up medical records requests, the person picking up the records must be the patient or an authorized individual on the patient’s account, must sign for the documents, submit payment (if not already received) and produce a picture ID to confirm identity.

It is the responsibility of the patient to attend all scheduled appointments and arrive in a timely fashion. Should a patient not be able to attend an appointment, a 24 hour notice is requested. If a patient fails to call to cancel an appointment in advance or fails to attend a scheduled appointment, a service fee of $25.00 may be charged. CCNC does understand there are sometimes extenuating circumstances and those will be taken into consideration.

Should a client perpetually no show their appointments, CCNC reserves the right to decline any further services.

Coastal Carolina Neuropsychiatric Center is required to have a 24-hour and a 48-hour crisis response list to allow staff and patients ready access to emergency telephone numbers in order to obtain assistance anytime they deem necessary. Those telephone numbers are listed below:

In case of Medical Emergency
Call 911 or Go to the closest Emergency Department

In case of Mental Health Crisis
Call Good Hope Hospital, Inc at (910) 230-4011
Go to Good Hope Hospital, Inc 410 Denim Rd Erwin NC 28339.

Each new patient will be given contact information for Good Hope Hospital on each appointment card received in case of a crisis and is encouraged to post the emergency telephone numbers in a place that is accessible.

In case of a Mental Health Emergency:
During office hours:
Patient in Crisis who Visit a CCNC Office
If a patient arrives at one of the offices of CCNC in a crisis situation during office hours, patients are seen on the same day, as soon as possible by a medical provider. If any patient requires hospitalization, the Nursing Supervisor of Coastal Carolina Neuropsychiatric Center will assist that facility with placement.

Service Availability
Emergency within in (2) hours; immediate for life threatening emergencies
Urgent Care within forty-eight (48) hours
Routine need within ten (10) working days

Appointment Wait
Scheduled appointment within one (1) hour
Walk-in within (2) hours or schedule for subsequent appointment
Emergency within two (2) hours; life threatening emergencies must be seen immediately

Crisis Telephone Calls to a CCNC Office
During business hours patients may contact CCNC’s office directly at (910) 938-1114. All crisis calls will be directed to the Nursing Supervisor of the facility, that individual will assess crisis information, and direct the patient or family member on how to proceed. The Nursing Supervisor will remain in contact with the patient or family in crisis by telephone or in person until the crisis has been resolved.

After office hours:

• Patients in a crisis after office hours may call Good Hope Hospital at (910) 230-4011 to reach a nurse.
• Patients in a crisis after office hours may go to Good Hope Hospital at 410 Denim Rd Erwin NC 28339.
• Patients in a Medical Crisis that occur after hours may call 911.
• Patients in Medical Crises that occur after hours may go directly to your closest emergency department.
• Patients may contact 1-800-273-TALK, which is a suicide hotline Suicide Prevention Site

If a current patient needs a refill of medication or as a non-emergency medication issue, please call our office, select option 3 and leave a detailed message, including the patient’s name, date of birth, and a telephone number to return your call. If the caller is not the patient, he/she must include his/her name and relationship to the patient.

Always allow a minimum of 72 hours to refill requests and for completion of medical and school forms. Please be aware that we will only return calls to a patient or someone with whom the patient has given us written authorization to speak.

We are currently contracted with BCBS-NC, TriCare, NC HealthChoice, Medicaid (Carolina Access only for adults), Medicare and MedCost. Of course this list may change without notice. We ask for payment in full at the time of service until your deductible is met. Refunds on accounts with a credit balance will be made periodically or upon request (allow 14 days for processing). We do file insurance claims for you to the carrier indicated in your account.

We request and insist all co-payments/co-insurance are to be paid at the time of service. We are obligated by our contract with insurance carriers to collect co-pays/co-insurance at the time of service -that requirement is in your contract and ours. This policy is effective regardless of who is accompanying the patient. We do accept Master Card and Visa as a courtesy to our patients.

We have unfortunately encountered numerous problems with payment for services in cases of children whose parents are divorced. The adult bringing the child to the office is responsible for payment on that day. We realize this can be a difficult situation for all concerned; however, we cannot serve as an intermediary.

Providing quality mental health care is a complex task which requires close cooperation between patients and health facility personnel. Patients can take responsibility for their care by helping the medical team give the best possible care.

1. Providing Information:
   The responsibility to provide, to the best of your knowledge, accurate and complete information about complaints, past illness, hospitalizations, medications, and other matters relating to the patient’s health. A patient has the responsibility to let his/her health care provider know whether he or she understands the treatment and what is expected of him/her.

   It is the patient’s responsibility to notify us of any changes to their contact information and insurance.

2. Respect and Consideration:
   The responsibility for being considerate of the rights of other patients and health care personnel and for assisting in the control of noise, smoking, and the number of visitors. The patient is responsible for being respectful of the property of other persons and of the property of the facility.

   We ask that patients refrain from using profanity or raised voices. Keep cell phone usage to a minimum in the waiting area and turn off cell phones while in the clinical areas.

3. Compliance with Medical Care:
   The responsibility for complying with the medical and nursing treatment plan, including follow up care recommended by health care providers. This includes keeping appointments on time and notifying the health facility when appointments cannot be kept.
4. Medication Management:
   Patients and/or their family members have the responsibility to ask the health care provider what to expect regarding their medication management and to participate in discussion and decisions. Patients should ask and notify the health care provider if symptoms are not relieved; share their concerns.
5. Rules and Regulations:
   The responsibility for following the rules and regulations effecting patient care and conduct.
6. Reporting of Patient Concerns:
   The responsibility for helping CCNC provide the best possible care to all beneficiaries. Patient’s recommendations, questions or concerns should be reported to the Front Office Supervisor or the Assistant Practice Manager.

CCNC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in its health programs and activities; (2) CCNC provides appropriate auxiliary aids and services, including qualified interpreters for individuals with disabilities and information in alternate formats, free of charge and in a timely manner, when such aids and services are necessary to ensure an equal opportunity to participate to individuals with disabilities; (3) CCNC provides language assistance services, including translated documents and oral interpretation, free of charge and in a timely manner, when such services are necessary to provide meaningful access to individuals with LEP; (4) how to obtain such auxiliary aids and services and such language assistance services; (5) an identification of, and contact information for, the responsible employee designated by the covered entity to coordinate its efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under Section 1557 and the Final Rule; (6) the availability of the grievance procedure and how to file a grievance; and (7) how to file a discrimination complaint with OCR. You may view the translation in the footer below.

At CCNC we understand that a family comes in many different forms. Our practice’s focus is to provide complete and thorough medical care to your child(ren). Single parenthood, blended families, separation, divorce, and marital discord can sometimes present communication barriers between caregivers.

In order to prevent communication issues from impacting our ability to provide medical care to your child(ren), our practice has adopted the following guidelines:

• In the absence of any legal documentation provided to us, both biological parents will have equal access to a patient’s medical record.
• In the absence of any legal documentation provided to us, both biological parents will have the ability to make medical decisions on behalf of the child(ren). As a practice, we will NOT consult with the other parent about a medical decision, unless legally required to by law.
• Our practice will NOT affirmatively call (or otherwise notify) a parent in the case of an appointment scheduled by a different parent. We will contact the parent who brought the child(ren) to the appointment for any follow-up results. We may attempt to contact the other parent if the parent who had been present at the appointment was not reachable.
• If legal documentation shows a change in parental rights or authority in making medical decisions, please provide us a copy of the legal documentation with the relevant sections highlighted. Our practice does not hold itself out to be an expert in analyzing and interpreting parental custody agreements and we will not decide disputes between parents regarding the legal language and effect of any legal documentation.
• This practice will always use its discretion in determining whether to classify a recommended treatment as major or minor medical decision with respect to which parent must be provided notice and/or consent. At all times, the practice will use its discretion in interpreting parental custody agreements in the best interest of the child(ren).
• Our practice exists to care for children. We do NOT get involved in custody disputes between parents unless there is a verified report of abuse, neglect, danger or comparable towards the child(ren). We do NOT write affidavits specifying which parent is the “better” parent. We do NOT testify in court for the above either. Any subpoenas and/or depositions will be charged at the physician’s customary hourly rate. We typically recommend requesting a copy of the child’s medical record to submit to the court. This record will be charged at our customary rate for the production of paper medical records.
• If parental disagreements become disruptive to our practice or the care of the child(ren), our practice reserves the right to discharge the family from our care.

Please click here to print and sign our Divorce/Marital Discord Guidelines