Insurance and Cash Pricing

Our providers are contracted with many major insurance companies (Premera, Lifewise, Regence, BCBS/Blue Cross Blue Shield, Coordinated Care / Ambetter, First Choice, and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of WA) but DO NOT accept others such as United Health Care, ASH (American Specialty Health), Cigna, and Aetna. 

Our front desk staff can help you decide which provider is best for you given your needs and your coverage, and our smart EMR system automatically verifies that you are eligible once we have your information in our system.  Eligible however only means that you are in good standing with your insurance company.  It does not necessarily mean that you have ND or Acupuncture benefits.  We know that can be confusing, and we apologize for the fact that our country’s insurance industry makes things so complex and difficult. 

Remember, though, that insurance is a contract between you and your insurance company, and it’s important that you know your plan benefits.  We are legally required to abide by your insurance contracts with our payers, so please keep that in mind when dealing with any billing concerns that may arise during the course of your care.

Unfortunately, Medicare, Medicaid, and Medicare supplemental insurances do not normally cover Naturopathic consultations, and are not accepted at AIM. Please call Medicare or your secondary insurance if you have any questions.  If this is your primary insurance coverage, please be prepared to pay for your visit at time of service.

If you do not have coverage with one of our preferred insurance companies (some of which are listed above), please expect to pay for your care at time of service. As always, be prepared to pay your co-pay, if applicable, at time of service.

While our staff conducts benefit checks, verification, and pre-authorizations with your insurance company as a courtesy as part of our process, it is ultimately the patient’s responsibility to contact their insurance company to make sure they have coverage for Naturopathic care, or for Acupuncture, as needed.  At the end of the day if your insurance informs us that a visit is not covered, or is patient responsibility, we do have to collect that amount from the patient directly.

A note about Out of Network Coverage: If you have Out of Network Benefits, and the provider you see is out of network with your insurance, then you will be asked to pay the difference between what your out of network benefits cover, and the total billable cost of your visit.  This sometimes happens with Acupuncture and ND visits, where due to the alternative nature of the care, your insurance may see it as an out of network claim.  They then pay a portion of the claim, to help offset cost to you, and the patient is responsible for the difference.  If you have questions about a bill that seems off, please contact us and we will be happy to explain the situation.

We are also able to bill auto insurance for MVA claims.  We bill services directly to your insurance company and work with your insurance company to help claims get paid properly, as a service to all our patients.  Remember that you will need to provide the claim information to our office in order to bill these claims properly.

Our Concierge Care program is required for all ND and Primary Care patients billing their insurance, as that program covers the cost of the premium non-billable care that is provided to each and every ND patient at AIM.  All ND/Primary Care insurance patients are also asked to sign up for one of our Concierge Wellness Plans, or are required to pay a $45 per visit Administrative fee to cover the variety of non-billable services provided at AIM.

Primary Care, Naturopathic Care, and General Office Visits

Cash Pricing: Our cash prices are based on the corresponding billing code(s) we would bill to insurance for your visit.  Thus, there is a range of cost for cash prices.  For example, a new patient visit that would be billed as a lower complexity visit would have a charge of $185.  However, a highly lengthy and complex new patient visit may yield a charge of up to $360.

First Visit/Initial Office Call       $185-$360 depending on complexity 
Return Visit/Follow Up              $125-$290 depending on complexity 

Acupuncture

Cash Pricing: Our cash prices are based on the corresponding billing code(s) we would bill to insurance for your visit.  Thus, there is a range of cost for cash prices.  For Acupuncture, typical visits include two codes for needle insertion, 97810 and 97811, which we bill out at $98 and $75 respectively. In addition, new patients will also be billed an office visit code, such as a 99204. Occasionally, it is appropriate to bill a return office visit code in addition to the insertion codes, usually every 5th visit. For example, a new patient visit that would be billed as a low complexity visit would have a charge of $185.  However, a highly lengthy and complex new patient visit may yield a charge of up to $360.

First Visit/Initial Office Call and Acupuncture Treatment    

$185-$360 depending on complexity plus $170 for the two insertion codes.

Return Visit/Follow Up (billed as needed) and Acupuncture Treatment             

$125-$290 depending on complexity plus $170 for the two insertion codes.

Acupuncture Treatment Only

$170 for the two insertion codes

Prices are subject to change as our cost of goods and services change.  We are committed to keeping our prices among the lowest in the area.  Concierge Plans cover only non-billable services.