Frequently Asked Questions

Appointments vary in length based on a wide variety of factors. You can expect to be in the office for approximately an hour for each appointment. Initial appointments and those with fractures can occasionally be longer. Things you can do to help make your visit go more quickly and smoothly would be:

• Please arrive to your appointment 20 minutes early to complete the necessary paperwork
• Have copy of your referral or script (if required) already in hand
• Be prepared to pay your Co-Pay or Co-Insurance at the time of the visit. We take all forms of payment.
• Bring in CDs with any previous X-Rays, MRI’s, CT Scans, etc. to the appointment. If you have the radiologist reports, bring them as well. These are rarely sent from other offices in a timely fashion.

Orthopaedic Medical Group of Tampa Bay is proud to accept ALL Major Insurance Plans including most Health, Workman’s Comp, and AUTO plans. We also accept LOP’s and legal cases.

Orthopaedic Medical Group operates at multiple hospitals including St. Joseph’s Hospital Main, St. Joseph’s Hospital South, South Florida Baptist Hospital, Winter Haven Hospital, Memorial Hospital of Tampa and Florida Hospital Tampa; along with Advanced Surgical Center in South Tampa and Brandon Ambulatory Surgical Center in Brandon. Where your surgery will be performed is based on several things: your insurance plan, your surgeon, the day of the week you will have surgery, the surgical procedure, and your overall health …. Just to name a few.

Medications are given for specific reasons to help you feel better, heal and recover from your injury or surgery. If your medication is not helping you, you have used it more quickly than anticipated or you are having a problem with the medication prescribed … you need to be seen and examined by a healthcare professional so we can ensure you are being treated properly. In addition, it’s is against Florida Law for our physicians to prescribe certain pain medications over the phone and you MUST be given a hand-written script. Every effort will be made to help you with your medication needs. Please understand it is difficult to help you with medication issues on Friday afternoon. Please reach out by Wednesday if you are concerned about a medication issue over the upcoming weekend.

Please refer to our “Locations” tab at the top of the screen for all of our current locations.

Locations

Depending on our insurance plan, your insurance may require and authorization or script from your primary care doctor to see an orthopaedic specialist. As examples many insurance plans like Tricare, Medicaid and most HMO’s require a script or Authorization from your Primary Care Physician. Please check with your insurance before you call to schedule an appointment to ensure you have the proper paperwork.

While we schedule the DAY of your Surgery, the facility at which you will be having the surgery controls the time for that day. The facility typically calls you the day before your surgery around 4pm to confirm the time you need to be at the facility. It’s best to plan to be unavailable for the entire day and please coordinate someone to drive you to and from surgery no matter how simple or quick the procedure may be.

When possible we will see a patient for more than one body part. However, your insurance may dictate that we can only see one body part at a time. The complexity of your injuries may limit our time thus only allowing us to treat one body part per visit. Seeing each patient for one body part allows our clinic day to flow more quickly and thus help more people per day. Please note that sometimes we only need 1-2 visits to treat a single body part and we can often see you back very quickly to address other body parts and issues you may have.

All phone calls and fax information run through a central service center and standardized process.

• Central Phone Line: 813-684-2663
• Fax Number for Referrals, Medical Records: 813-441-7161

Our Service Center is owned and operated by OMG. The staff answering the phones are OMG employees who work tirelessly to help service our patients needs daily. We know that certain days of the week and certain hours of the day are very busy. We understand that occasionally the wait time can be lengthy. We have a call back feature to help decrease your wait time. Please be patient and listen to the prompts provided. Following the correct prompt in the call tree will guide you to the best person to answer your questions.

Yes – If your insurance has a set co-pay or co-insurance percentage you will have to pay that at each visit. If you have a surgical procedure you will have a 90 day Global Period in which office visits are covered under the cost of the surgery so you will not have any co-pays during that time period. Once out of the Global Period, you will have to resume paying your co-pay at each visit. The staff can tell you if your scheduled visit is in the global period or not.

X-rays are taken routinely in our office at every New Patient or New Problem visit, as well as with patients with fractures or certain surgical procedures. This is done so the physician can clearly see the bones and joints which are being treated and ensure quality care. We utilize high quality digital X-rays and minimize the exposure to radiation. Depending on the injury, time when outside x-rays were taken, image quality, and views taken, we may be able to use the outside radiographs rather than taking new ones. This will be determined by the healthcare professional at the time of your appointment. X-rays and MRIs provide different information and therefore may both be required for appropriate evaluation.

We do our very best to keep up to date on the various insurance plans and review what they will cover for office visits, injections, X-rays and DME products. Every insurance is different, yet most will cover a substantial portion of the cost. Depending on your insurance …. Sometimes we can give you the brace while in our office, yet other times we may have to provide you with a script to get the brace at a local brace retail vendor. If you have a concern … the best choice is to call your insurance directly.

Yes. We need some documentation of how you are doing at each visit. The initial paperwork is the most extensive but should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. The Follow Up paperwork is only 1 page and can be completed in 2-3 minutes. If you are an existing patient but have a new problem or have not been seen in over 6 months (even for the same problem) you may be asked to complete a more comprehensive packet to ensure we have an updated medical history, medications list, etc.

It can take up to 7-10 business day to complete the paperwork. There is a $30 charge for each form to be completed.

While the physician will order special tests, advanced imaging, therapy, braces and medications, the insurance companies may sometimes deny the request. Often this is a result of the type of insurance policy you have. Not all insurance is the same and just because you have insurance does not mean everything is covered. Its best to call your insurance company and understand what your plan will and will not cover.

You may not be seen without a picture ID. This is to protect you as a patient. For questions about acceptable forms of identification, please call.