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Before Your Visit

Policies & Patient Forms

A few simple guidelines help us give every patient focused, unhurried care — and getting your paperwork ready ahead of time makes your visit smooth.

Visit Policy

Making the most of your appointment.

So Dr. Katari can give your concerns the attention they deserve, we schedule two distinct types of visits. Choosing the right one helps us care for you safely and thoroughly.

Wellness Visit

A wellness visit is for wellness.

Annual physicals and preventive visits are dedicated to keeping you healthy — reviewing screenings, prevention, and overall wellbeing.

  • Focused on prevention and your yearly health review.
  • Not intended for new or acute (sick) problems. If a new issue comes up, we’ll be glad to schedule a separate sick visit.
  • This keeps your preventive care complete and your insurance benefits clear.
Sick Visit

A sick visit focuses on the issue.

Sick visits are scheduled to address a specific concern so we can evaluate it carefully and safely in the time available.

  • Please focus on the specific issue that brought you in.
  • A sick visit isn’t the time to review every ongoing concern — that’s what wellness and chronic-care follow-ups are for.
  • Have several things to discuss? Let us know when booking and we’ll schedule enough time.

Paperwork

Patient forms

New patients can save time by completing these before arriving. Prefer to fill them in electronically? You can also complete intake through the Patient Portal.

New Patient RegistrationDemographics & contact information
Medical History QuestionnaireConditions, medications & allergies
Consent to TreatStandard treatment authorization
Release of Medical RecordsAuthorize records transfer
Notice of Privacy PracticesHow we protect your health information — read it online
Financial & Insurance PolicyBilling, copays & self-pay terms

To request any of these forms, please call our office at (214) 884-2774 or ask our front desk at check-in. Completed forms contain Protected Health Information — please bring them in person or submit securely through the Patient Portal rather than by email.

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Practice policies

Policies & procedures

Short, plain-language rules that keep care safe and appointments honest. They are updated periodically, and the version on this page is always the current one.

Prescriptions & refills

Chronic medications are prescribed for 90 days — book a follow-up every three months so a refill never runs out while you wait for an appointment. Going away for 91 days or more? Book an appointment in the month before you leave so your prescriptions cover the trip. Antibiotics usually need an exam or a rapid test first — prescribing without one is how the wrong drug gets given. For established patients whose condition we already know well, for example those in chronic care and remote monitoring, some decisions can safely be made by phone or tele-visit between appointments; Dr. Katari decides case by case. Controlled substances are case by case and never guaranteed; when a pain specialist or psychiatrist is the right prescriber, we will tell you honestly.

Lab orders, results & lab bills

Rapid in-house tests are usually back the same visit; send-out labs post to your healow patient portal within seven days. We call you only when a result is critical — no call does not mean no result, it means check the portal. Unless your labs are completely normal, we recommend booking a follow-up visit to go over them. One avoidable delay worth knowing: if the name or date of birth on your insurance, at the lab and in our records do not match exactly — even one letter — results and claims get held up, so please keep all three identical.

We order tests based on medical need — nothing more, and we receive nothing from any laboratory for ordering them. We are not responsible for laboratory bills. We do not own the lab, and we cannot guarantee what it will charge: the cost depends on your insurance, and every lab and every plan has its own policy — some plans (Blue Cross Blue Shield is a common example) cover routine labs in full, others do not, and the same test can be covered at one lab and not another. It is your responsibility to check with your insurer and the lab before the draw. If you do not want a surprise bill, call the lab first, confirm you will not be charged extra, and only then have the blood drawn. Going for the lab work is your choice; if a bill surprises you afterwards, question the lab and your plan before assuming the order was wrong.

X-ray, MRI & CT reports

If an imaging result needs urgent action, we call you the same day we receive it. Everything else is discussed at an appointment, not over the phone. A scan report is rarely a yes/no answer — findings need your history and an examination beside them to mean anything, and a rushed phone summary is how findings get missed in both directions. After a CT scan or MRI, book a separate follow-up visit two to four weeks later to go through it face to face — it cannot be added on to another appointment. Trying to cover a scan, a refill and a new complaint in one slot is how things get missed.

Seeing a specialist — three steps that protect you

A specialist referral only works — and only gets paid by your plan — when three things happen in order: (1) book a visit to discuss why the consult is needed, (2) we send the referral to the specialist, and (3) your insurer approves it, which matters most on HMO plans. Skip a step and the claim is usually denied — and the bill lands on you.

Two more things: give the specialist our fax number (wrong fax numbers are the usual reason their report never reaches us), and after the specialist visit, book a follow-up with Dr. Katari to go over what they found and what it changes.

Payment at the time of service

For self-pay and high-deductible plans, payment is collected at the time of service. As a Good Faith Estimate, that is about $170 for a new-patient visit and $120 for a follow-up — an estimate rather than a fixed price, adjusted to your plan's allowed amount. If your insurance later covers part of it, the difference is settled, and any remainder is billed to you. Collecting up front keeps the practice sustainable: a meaningful share of billed visits are otherwise never paid, and chasing them is time taken away from care.

Your right to a Good Faith Estimate

Under the federal No Surprises Act, if you are uninsured or choose not to use insurance, you have the right to a written Good Faith Estimate of expected charges before your visit. Ask for one when you schedule, or at any time, by calling (214) 884-2774. If your final bill is at least $400 more than the estimate, you can dispute it. Learn more at cms.gov/nosurprises.

On a high-deductible plan? The federal right above covers uninsured and self-pay patients, but we will give you the same written estimate on request — and the figures are the same ones collected at the time of service: about $170 for a new-patient visit and $120 for a follow-up. Until your deductible is met your plan pays nothing toward an office visit, so this is what you should expect to pay. Please also check your own benefits with your insurer; we verify what we can, but only your plan can tell you where your deductible stands.

Missed appointments & the card on file

A missed clinic appointment without notice carries a $100 no-show fee — a charge for the missed slot itself, separate from the visit estimates above. A credit card is kept on file to hold clinic appointments: you give it on the secure new-patient packet you sign electronically, never typed into this website and never over email or text. It is charged only for balances you have authorised — the no-show fee, and anything left after your insurance has processed the claim. Cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours ahead and no fee applies. The fee does not apply to visits at an assisted or independent living community, where Dr. Katari comes on the community's scheduled day within a four-hour window. An unfilled slot is a patient who could have been seen. The practice also reserves the right to decline care where the relationship is not workable.

Phone calls & call-backs

Your number is saved with your chart and we see missed calls — but between patients, the office cannot always return every call the same day. Please call from the number registered with us so staff recognize you among the junk calls, and use the patient portal for non-urgent questions; it is answered more reliably than a voicemail.

Medical records & care outside this practice

We are a clinic, not a hospital, and medical record systems are not all connected — records from a hospital stay, a specialist or an urgent-care visit do not reach us automatically. After a hospital discharge, bring your discharge papers to the follow-up visit, and use the release-of-records form above so we can request what is missing. We can only review what has actually reached us.

If you have not been seen for two years

Insurers treat a patient not seen for two years or more as a new patient — the visit takes more time and is billed as a new-patient visit. Please book it as one, so the right time is set aside.

Changing your doctor

If you are changing your primary care physician — joining us or leaving us — please tell us, so records move with you and nothing about your care falls between two practices.

Booking an assisted living or independent living visit? Those policies — the DocuSign new-patient packet, power of attorney, and the community visit schedule — are set out on the booking page.

Medical disclaimer: This website is for general information only and is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician with any questions about a medical condition. In an emergency, call 911.

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Where do you need care?

Before you book

healow will show you real openings at Frisco. Before you pick a time, please read all five points below.

1. When we can see you depends on your plan

Which plan do you have?
Your planSame-day visit?What has to happen first
Medicare with a supplement Yes — within a few hours We verify your insurance first. You need both Part A and Part B — Part B is the part that covers a doctor's visit, so without it payment is due at the time of the visit, by cash or card.
Medicare Advantage with a PPO
WellMed, BCBS, Aetna, Anthem, Cigna HealthSprings, Humana and other Medicare Advantage plans		 Yes — within a few hours, on working days We verify your insurance first. A Medicare Advantage HMO is the next two rows — what matters is whose name is on the card.
Medicare Advantage HMO, with Dr. Katari already named on your card
A commercial HMO follows the same rule		 Yes — within a few hours We verify your insurance first. This applies as long as you have not been seeing another primary care physician and have not changed the name on your card.
Medicare Advantage HMO, without Dr. Katari on your card
A commercial HMO follows the same rule		 Not same day One of three things has to happen first: your insurer approves the visit in advance, or you obtain a prior-authorization code from your insurer and give it to our staff, or you have Dr. Katari named as your primary care physician on the card. A name change takes effect on the first of a following month — see below.
Any private plan with a PPO
BCBS, Cigna, Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare and other major carriers		 Yes — within a few hours, on working days We verify your insurance first.
EPO or POS Not guaranteed These work like an HMO, not like a PPO. Call us and we will check where you stand before you drive over.
Self-pay Yes — within a few hours, on working days Nothing to verify. Payment is due at the time of the visit. As a Good Faith Estimate that is about $170 for a new patient and $120 for a follow-up — an estimate, not a fixed price; ask us for it in writing when you book. If you expect to need care regularly, ask about the Direct Primary Care membership — yearly plans with predictable pricing. Membership is not insurance.
Which plan do you have?
Your planSeen on the scheduled day?What has to happen first
Medicare with a supplement Yes — usually within one to two weeks We verify your insurance first. You need both Part A and Part B — Part B is the part that covers a doctor's visit, so without it payment is due at the time of the visit, by cash or card. If something cannot wait for the next scheduled visit, we can often arrange an urgent same-day tele-visit. For a true emergency — chest pain, trouble breathing, stroke symptoms, a bad fall — call 911 first.
Medicare Advantage with a PPO
WellMed, BCBS, Aetna, Anthem, Cigna HealthSprings, Humana and other Medicare Advantage plans		 Yes — on the scheduled day We verify your insurance first. A Medicare Advantage HMO is the next two rows — what matters is whose name is on the card. An urgent tele-visit can be arranged sooner if it is needed.
Medicare Advantage HMO, with Dr. Katari already named on the card
A commercial HMO follows the same rule		 Yes — on the scheduled day We verify your insurance first.
Medicare Advantage HMO, without Dr. Katari on the card
A commercial HMO follows the same rule		 Not until it is authorized Your insurer approves the visit in advance, or a prior-authorization code is obtained, or Dr. Katari is named as the primary care physician on the card.
Any private plan with a PPO Yes — on the scheduled day We verify your insurance first.
Self-pay Yes — on the scheduled day Nothing to verify. Payment is due at the time of the visit. As a Good Faith Estimate that is about $170 for a new patient and $120 for a follow-up — an estimate, not a fixed price; ask us for it in writing. If the resident needs care regularly, ask about the Direct Primary Care membership. Membership is not insurance.

On an HMO and need to be seen sooner? Call us at (214) 884-2774. Insurers will sometimes issue a priority or prior-authorization number that lets us see you right away, and we will ask on your behalf. Your insurer gives us a reference number for it, which we have to have before your visit.

Getting Dr. Katari named on your HMO card. Ask your insurer to list him as your primary care physician. The change takes effect on the first of a following month rather than straight away, so allow one to two calendar months — and ask as early in the month as you can, because a request made late in the month usually will not take effect until the month after next. Once his name is on the card, you can be seen the same day like any other patient.

If this is an emergency — chest pain, trouble breathing, stroke symptoms, a serious injury — go to the nearest emergency room or call 911. Do not wait for an appointment.

2. A wellness visit is not a sick visit, and not a problem visit either

A wellness visit is a prevention-planning appointment: your history, your screenings, your medications and a plan for the year ahead. Two different kinds of appointment are not covered by it — a sick visit for something new like a cough, a cold or an infection, and a problem visit to manage an ongoing condition like diabetes or high blood pressure. Each needs its own time.

If you need both, say so when you book and we will schedule the time for it. They are separate services and may be billed separately.

If you are 65 or over, this is your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit.

If you are under 65, the equivalent is an annual physical or wellness visit through your commercial plan — a different service with different rules, set out in the next point.

On Medicare, the Annual Wellness Visit runs on a rolling clock — at least 11 full months after your last one — so it is not tied to a particular month. Commercial plans differ: some cover one preventive visit per calendar year, others require a full year between visits. We check your plan's rule when we verify your insurance.

Please book it as the right kind of visit. If you book for an acute problem, we can deal with the acute problem — but we cannot turn that appointment into your annual visit on the day. Booking the wrong one is the usual reason an insurer refuses to pay, so tell us which you need and we will put the right time aside.

3. Under 65? Your annual physical follows your commercial plan's rules

It is billed once a year, per patient — and only one doctor can bill it. If another provider has already billed a physical this cycle, your plan will not pay for a second one, however the appointment was labeled.

It must stay preventive. The visit is for someone without new symptoms: screenings, counseling and the year's prevention plan. Raise a new problem or need a new prescription during it, and that becomes an additional service on the day, billed separately under your plan's rules.

It runs on your plan's rules, not ours. What is included, what codes as preventive and what you pay for the extras is decided by your commercial plan — we will tell you honestly what we can see from our side, but the plan documents govern.

4. Your time is requested. The appointment is not confirmed yet.

Whichever time you pick, the appointment is not confirmed until two things are settled: your insurance is verified, and the slot is actually available. Our staff check both and call you back — usually the same business day. If either does not work out we will call you and move it, rather than let you find out at the front desk.

Please give us the phone number that is registered with us — and when you call, call from it. The practice receives a steady stream of junk calls, and the registered number is how our staff recognize you and know whom to call back.

Have your insurance card with you when you book. We need the plan name, member ID and group number to check what your visit is covered for before you are seen.

A credit card is kept on file to hold clinic appointments. You give it on the secure new-patient packet you sign electronically — never typed into this website, and never over email or text. It is charged only for balances you have authorized: the $100 no-show fee for an appointment missed without notice, and anything left after your insurance has processed the claim. Cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours ahead and no fee applies. An unfilled slot is a patient who could have been seen.

5. Follow-ups, refills and what counts as a separate visit

A wellness visit or annual physical covers preventive care only: screening and counseling aimed at preventing infection, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. Anything outside that is its own appointment.

A new problem or a new prescription is a separate visit. If you raise something new during a preventive visit, it becomes a second service on the day and your plan will usually charge for it separately — commonly in the region of $50 to $100, though what you actually pay depends on your plan.

Follow-up visits are for one or two problems. That is what the time is booked for, and trying to cover everything in one appointment is how visits end up rushed. If you have a longer list, tell us when you book and we will find the time for it.

Chronic medications are prescribed for 90 days. Book your follow-up every three months so a refill never runs out while you are waiting for an appointment. Going away for 91 days or more — a long trip, a season abroad? Book an appointment in the month before you leave, so your prescriptions cover the time you are gone.

Antibiotics usually need an exam or a rapid test first — prescribing without one is how the wrong drug gets given. For established patients whose condition we already know well — for example those in our chronic care and remote monitoring program — some decisions can safely be made by phone or tele-visit between appointments. Dr. Katari decides case by case; new infections usually still need to be seen.

Controlled substances are case by case and are never guaranteed. Depending on what you need, the right person to manage it may be a pain specialist or a psychiatrist, and we will tell you honestly if that is so.

Before we can visit a resident

The new patient packet has to be signed. Every new patient signs it, and it goes out electronically through DocuSign — we will send the link when you get in touch. It covers consent along with the financial power of attorney and medical power of attorney details we need on file. An out-of-hospital DNR is a separate document; tell us if one is in place. Please do not send any of these through this website.

We come on your community's scheduled day. Dr. Katari visits each community on a set day, generally once every two weeks, rather than on request. If something cannot wait for the next scheduled visit, call us at (214) 884-2774 — for many residents we can arrange an urgent tele-visit the same day. For a true emergency, call 911 first.

Please keep a four-hour window for the visit. Dr. Katari sees residents at several communities on the same day, so we give a window rather than a fixed time — this applies to assisted and independent living alike. Coming to you saves the resident the drive, the waiting room and a second person's time, and in return we ask for that flexibility. Because we come on the scheduled day, the $100 no-show fee for missed clinic appointments does not apply to visits at your community; it does apply to a clinic appointment, including one made for an independent-living resident.

Every November we check your insurance again. Plans change at the turn of the year, and a plan that changes without us knowing is how a visit stops being covered. We email every resident and family each November to confirm what is current — please reply to it even if nothing has changed.

We strongly recommend chronic care and remote monitoring for every resident. Chronic care is the phone contact between visits, where medication for something like high blood pressure or diabetes is reviewed and adjusted without waiting for the next round. Remote monitoring is the equipment that tracks blood pressure and blood sugar, so we see the readings as they happen. In Medicare's own evaluations of chronic care management, enrolled patients ended up in hospital less often; families get an update every month, and regular reviews often simplify the medication list. Individual results vary.

Where can we reach you?

Our staff confirm every booking by phone, and the new-patient forms are signed electronically through DocuSign — we need both to hold your time.

Are you on Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan?

This decides which new-patient packet we send you. The Medicare packet includes the care-management consents, which apply only to Medicare plans — and which you are free to leave unsigned.

Please give the phone number that is registered with us. The email is where the DocuSign forms go — nothing about your health is sent to it.

Tell us where to come

Residents, family members and community staff can all send this. Give us the community and a phone number and we will call to arrange the visit and sort out the insurance side before Dr. Katari comes out.

Contact details only, please — no dates of birth, plan numbers, symptoms or diagnoses. We will collect what we need on the phone.

Include an email and we will send the DocuSign new-patient forms to it straight away — they must be signed before the first visit.

Just so we know whether to send you the DocuSign form. Do not attach or type any of the documents here.

Type your name and the date to confirm you have read the five points above and the practice's policies and procedures, which are updated periodically. We cannot book an appointment without it.

Signature (optional)

If you like, add a drawn signature with your finger or your mouse — your typed name above is enough on its own.

We keep a copy of what you have read, together with your name, the date and any signature you draw, and the practice can view it. Please do not enter anything about your health here. The consent and new-patient forms are signed separately through DocuSign.

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