While OHIP (the Ontario Health Insurance Plan) covers the costs of most of your medical needs, there are many services provided by your physicians which are not covered by OHIP. These services require significant time and resources to administer and the demand for these uninsured services has increased dramatically in the past several years. Some familiar fees not covered by OHIP include work absence notes, insurance forms, and legal documents.
There are many other services which are not compensated by OHIP, including, but are not limited to, electronic transactions such as prescription renewals requested by you or sent automatically by your pharmacy and requests for referral to various providers.
Starting June 3, 2024, we will begin charging a $20.00 fee for patients who choose to have prescription renewals done without an appointment. Prescription renewals done during a regular appointment will NOT have a charge. It is important to understand that each time a request is made by fax or phone without an office visit, the patient’s chart needs to be accessed, then reviewed by the physician, the necessary documentation is added to the medical file and the prescription needs to be sent to the pharmacy. Prescriptions written at the time of an office visit will be provided in quantities (with repeats as appropriate) to provide the patient with enough medication to last until a follow-up appointment is medically necessary. Similarly, referral requests for physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic, etc. will not be charged when provided during a visit with your physician and is part of the recommended treatment plan. You can see the Fee Guide here.
Also starting on June 3, 2024, the office will be partnering with PatientSERV, the Ontario Medical Association’s partner in uninsured services management. PatientSERV allows patients to easily manage their uninsured services payments through an online platform and dedicated support team, which will help you cover the costs of uninsured services in a hassle-free and efficient manner.
If you have any questions about uninsured services, please contact PatientSERV at 1-800-385-3210. Thank you for placing your trust in us to provide you with the highest quality healthcare possible, which we hope to fulfill for many more years to come.