In a message dated 97-08-22 19:16:59 EDT, (Gary Mirkin) writes: > It seems to me that you ought to be able to charge cash for such > unnecessary services if the policy does not cover it Be careful if you do this with capitated plans. Everything is covered--they just say it's part of the capitation. When we were told that the rapid strep tests were not going to be reimbursed, we told patients they could pay cash for that test, or wait 24-48 hours for a throat culture. The insurance company said we were not allowed to charge because it was a covered procedure. It's covered under the capitation--they won't pay for it as a bill-above. So now we tell those patients that we can't do a rapid strep test, and have to send a throat culture to a commercial lab. We rarely get results before 48 hours. Moshe Adler, MD