If your pet is staying with us for hospitalisation, surgery or further investigations, you will be asked to pay a 50% deposit. This will be the lower end of the estimate that the clinician has given you during or prior to your appointment. Please note that the costs given are estimates and not exact quotes for treatment.
Payments
We accept cash, cheques and most major debit and credit cards as payment. Accounts must be paid in full when your pet is discharged from the hospital.
There are generally two types of insurance claim. An indirect claim is when your Insurance Company reimburses you. A direct claim is when your insurance company reimburses us directly.
Indirect claims
For indirect claims, after you have settled your account with us, we send a completed and fully signed claim form to your insurance company, together with a detailed receipt from us. The insurance company will then refund you any payment that is due, less any excess or non-insured costs. Please note, there is no administration fee for processing your claim.
What we need from you:
- Full payment of your invoice is required before your claim can be processed.
- You must provide a separate signed claim form for each visit you make a claim for.
What we will do:
- We will complete your claim form and have it signed by the clinician in charge of your case or an alternative and authorised staff member.
- We will aim to send the claim form to your insurance company within five working days, providing you have completed the relevant policyholder sections and paid your account in full. (It can take the insurance company five to seven days to log your claim on their system.)
- We will send copies of your clinical notes, if requested, and any other information that the insurance company may require to ensure the claim is processed as quickly as possible.
Direct claims
If we agree to make a direct claim on your behalf, you benefit from not having to pay for your pet’s care at the time of treatment and then having to wait for reimbursement from your insurance company. This may be helpful to you if large fees are involved, as can often occur for complex cases. It does require a significant amount of administration time and effort on our part and delays our receipt of payment for the work we have undertaken. We therefore charge an administration fee to process these.
What we need from you:
- In order for us to assist you with a direct claim, you must contact your insurance company prior to your first visit, to authorise us to speak directly with them about your policy.
- Please call us on 01883 741440 to confirm that this permission has been given.
- We recommend you read your policy details thoroughly before your appointment with us so you can confirm the information we have is correct.
- A £54.00 administration fee is chargeable for your claim and is payable at the time of your visit.
- In addition, a £500 deposit is required before treatment commences, to cover the excess or items not covered by your policy. The balance, if any remains, will be refunded upon completion of treatment and settlement of the claim.
- You must provide a claim form for each visit you are claiming for. Claim forms must have all the relevant policyholder sections completed. All forms must be signed and dated in the relevant section stating that payment is made directly to us.
What we will do:
- We will undertake all the necessary administration work relating to your claim.
- We will complete your claim form and have it signed by the clinician in charge of your case or an alternative and authorised staff member.
- We aim to send your claim form to your insurance company within five working days, providing you have completed the relevant policyholder sections and paid your deposit.
- We will send copies of your clinical notes, if requested, and any other information that the insurance company may require.
- We will liaise with your insurance company to ensure they have received your claim form and have all the information they require.
- We will contact you if we have not received payment from your insurance company after 45 days of submitting your claim.
Please note that it is your responsibility to settle your account with us after 60 days if the insurance company has not reimbursed us by then. By offering a direct claim we are not creating a contract between ourselves and the insurance company. The responsibility for any amounts not paid by the insurance company remains with you, and these amounts are required to be settled in line with our standard terms of business.
Arranging a referral for your pet
If you would like to refer your pet to see one of our Specialists please visit our Arranging a Referral page.