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Main Office:

Normal Business Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00: a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Routine Appointment Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Walk-In Injury Clinic Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

In the event of a life-threatening medical emergency, call emergency medical services at 911 immediately. DO NOT WAIT! Inform the emergency room staff that you are a patient of North Country Orthopaedic Group, and they will contact us.

Patient Portal - General Information

Q. What is the Patient Portal?

A. The Patient Portal provides you with secure, online access to portions of your medical records, as well as an easy and convenient way to communicate with the practice through a secure internet connection. Think of it as an online account for your doctor's office, similar to online banking or credit card accounts you may currently have. Once you log into your portal account, the information you view pulls from your medical record. Only you will have access to your health records, including any messages or information sent to you from the practice. With the patient portal you can:

• Send and receive non-urgent messages and information from your doctor's office, including test results and educational material.
• Easily notify the practice of changes to your personal information, including phone number, address, and insurance changes.
• Request a refill for a medication prescribed by a provider at the practice.
• View upcoming and previous appointments, including the doctor and the location of those appointments.
• View and/or print your current medications and allergies list.

Q. How is the Patient Portal secure?

A. We take great care to make sure your health information is kept private and secure. The Patient Portal uses HTTPS to provide encrypted communication between you and your doctor's office. Access to your portal account is controlled through secure access codes, personal ID's, and passwords. Only you will have access to the login information needed to view your account.

Q. What are the benefits of the Patient Portal?

A. The Patient Portal helps you take a more active role in your healthcare. Having a patient portal account helps the practice create a more accurate record of your medical history as well as educate you on certain aspects of your health. It provides you and the practice with a more efficient means of communication, eliminating sources of frustration such as phone tag. You will also be able to print or download portions of your chart to take with you to other providers participating in your care, thus reducing the amount of paperwork you may need to fill out.

Having a patient portal account also helps to eliminate the amount of paper waste a practice produces. The practice can send any documents, letters, and orders directly to your portal account, rather than sending them in the mail. You will continue to have access to these documents until you choose to delete them from your inbox, so you won't have to worry about important medical papers or letters getting damaged or lost.

Q. What do I need to use the Patient Portal?

A. You will need access to a computer, a smartphone or a tablet connected to the internet and an up-to-date browser (such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari). You will also need an email address. The email address you provide is only used to notify you when you have a new message in your portal account. It is treated with the same privacy and care as your health records and will never be sold or leased. It is recommended that you use an email address only you have access to.

Q. How do I sign up?

A. To have a patient portal account, you will need to already be a patient at this practice. To activate your account, you will need to receive an activation code from us. Once you have received the code, click on the Patient Portal Login button at the top of our website. There, you will be able to create your username, password, and other login information used to verify your identity. If you would like to activate your portal account, please contact the office to receive your activation code.

At North Country Orthopaedic Group, we accept most major insurance plans (see below). If you do not see your insurance plan in the list or you are unsure if we participate with your plan, please contact our billing specialists at (315) 915-8400.

If your insurance plan requires you to pay a co-payment, co-insurance, and/or a deductible, you will need to pay at the time of your visit. For your convenience we accept cash, checks, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

If you have a question related to your bill or insurance, please contact our billing specialists at (315) 915-8400.

Surprise Billing Notification - Notification for patients with non-participating insurances or self-pay patients.

Participating Insurance List

• Aetna
• Aetna Medicare
• Beechstreet/Meritain
• Excellus BCBS, BCBS Medicare, BCBS Child Health Plus, BCBS Healthy NY, BCBS Federal, BCBS Exchange
• ChampVA
• Cigna (when uses MVP network, ID # begins with U)
• Empire Plan (UHC - NY State employees)
• Fidelis Care (Medicaid, Family Health Plus or Child Health Plus only)
• Fidelis Care Medicare
• Fidelis Care Care metal level plans (Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Bronze on card)
• First Health/Coventry
• GHI/Emblem Health
• Lifetime Benefit Solutions (formerly RMSCO)
• Mailhandlers/Foreign Service Benefit Plans
• Martin's Point/US Family Health Plan
• Medicaid (NYS)
• Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Railroad
• MVP, MVP Medicaid, MVP Medicare Advantage, MVP Exchange
• No Fault Insurance
• Resolve
• Rural Carriers Benefit Plan
• Sieba LTD (uses Emblem Health network)
• Tricare East, Humana Military
• UMR
• United Healthcare, **United Healthcare Community Plan (Medicaid), United Healthcare Medicare Advantage
• United Healthcare Oxford
• Wellcare, formerly Today's Options (American Progressive/Universal American)
• Wisconsin Physicians (Tricare for Life)
• Workers' Compensation

**Note: United Healthcare Community Plan requires a referral as of 03/01/2021.

Affiliations

• CHAG Anesthesia Group
• North Country Orthopaedic Ambulatory Surgery Center
• Carthage Area Hospital
• Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center

If you do not see your insurance plan or are unsure if we participate with you plan, please contact our billing specialists at (315) 782-1650.

Note:

• Our participation with your insurance plan does not guarantee that all services will be covered by your insurance plan.

Office Visits: If your insurance is an HMO/managed care plan and you are required to obtain a referral from your primary care physician, the referral must be obtained before you can be seen for an office visit. Please coordinate this with your primary care physician in advance. Appointments will be rescheduled if required referrals are not received in the office by the time of your visit.

Physical Therapy: You will need a referral from your physician or medical provider (primary care doctor, nurse practitioner, orthopedic surgeon, podiatrist, chiropractor, etc.) for insurance to pay for your physical therapy treatment.

North Country Orthopaedic Group (NCOG) will accept an initial referral by fax, by phone, or by email from your provider, and we will obtain the needed signed prescription within days of your referral, or you may bring the signed referral form with you to our office.

Doctors at North Country Orthopaedic Group have hospital or surgery center affiliations with Carthage Area Hospital, Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center and the North Country Orthopaedic Ambulatory Surgery Center.

Prescriptions and refills for established patients of North Country Orthopaedic Group are routinely issued during our regular office hours (see above). You can make your request by calling our office at (315) 782-1650. No refills are issued during the evenings, weekends, or holidays, as the doctors do not have access to your medical records during those times. It is helpful to anticipate your refill needs to avoid an interruption in your medication therapy.