Billing Information
Signature Genomic Laboratories, LLC, offers various payment options to provide flexibility to patients, ordering institutions and physicians.
Institutional Billing
With completion of an institutional billing form (pdf), a company-assigned account number is provided. Institutional billing accounts receive a monthly statement with patient details for each analysis ordered on a monthly basis. Terms are met 30 days from the date of the invoice. An institutional billing account allows for determination of volume from a referring institution with the ease of a single payment each month.
Self-pay
Patients have the option to provide full payment at the time of sample submission. The total cost of the analysis must be included with the sample and requisition. Signature Genomics accepts checks, money orders and credit cards (MC, Visa, AMEX, and Discover) as methods of payment.
Patient Insurance Billing
For patients with insurance, Signature will bill the insurance company directly on the patient’s behalf. Through our Patient Advocacy Program, the patient's authorized healthcare provider can request a Benefit Investigation prior to or at the time of sample receipt by completing a Patient Financial Authorization/Insurance Benefit Verification form to determine if the test is covered by the patient’s insurance plan. Some insurers require a pre-authorization prior to processing of the patient’s specimen; the Patient Advocacy Team can also help facilitate this process.
At the time of sample submission, Signature Genomics requires a completed Patient Financial Authorization/Insurance Benefit Verification form. After completion of testing, the results are released to the authorized health care provider. The Patient Advocacy Team will submit a claim requesting payment from the patient’s insurance carrier.
If a claim is denied on first review, the Patient Advocacy Team will appeal this denial on the patient’s behalf, with input from the patient’s authorized healthcare provider as needed. However, in cases for which all appeals are exhausted and the claim is not fully paid, the patient will ultimately be responsible for any balance remaining on the invoice. If a balance remains after we have completed the billing and appeals processes, the Patient Advocacy Program team will work with the patient to determine a payment plan.
Medicaid
Signature Genomic Laboratories bills all State Medicaid Programs. CPT codes for microarray analysis utilizing the SignatureChip® are provided upon request for assistance in billing state Medicaid programs.
International Samples
All international samples must be submitted with full payment unless an institutional billing account has been previously assigned.
Financial Hardship Program
Beginning in March, 2007, Signature Genomic Laboratories (SGL) designated monies to fund a Patient Charity Budget, and formed the SGL Financial Hardship Program. The SGL Patient Hardship Committee (also called SGL Patient Charity Committee), meets on a monthly basis to consider all financial hardship applications that have been submitted and received in the prior month. A case is considered to be a candidate for the Financial Hardship Program if the requesting health care provider can reasonably demonstrate that a financial barrier exists for the patient/family that prevents them from pursuing appropriate array CGH or FISH testing offered through SGL.
The Patient Hardship Committee is composed of a genetic counselor, a laboratory director, and a financial officer. The committee investigates the case history and approves or denies array CGH or FISH testing through SGL for reduced or no charge.
Healthcare providers can apply for consideration of hardship funding on behalf of their patients by e-mailing the following information to hardship@signaturegenomics.com:
- A brief summary of their patient’s medical history, eliminating patient identifiers
- Names/results of other family member(s) tested by SGL, when relevant to hardship request
- Previous cytogenetic testing performed on patient or relevant family members, and results of this testing (this helps SGL know whether array CGH or FISH analysis would best assist with diagnosis)
- Samples available for testing (e.g., extracted DNA, blood samples, cultured cells, etc.)
- Reason for hardship consideration
Please note that Financial Hardship Requests received directly from patients/families will not be considered. For further information about Signature Genomic’s Hardship Program, please call (509) 474-6840 and request to speak to a genetic counselor, or e-mail hardship@signaturegenomics.com.