Billing and Insurance

This is the most common questions asked by our patients. When you have any radiology exam performed, including an x-ray, a CT scan, or an ultrasound, there can be two charges.

1. One of the charges is for the technical component, the test itself.
2. The other charge is for the professional interpretation by the radiologist who reads your examination results.

You are not being charged more due to separate billing; a single charge is split between the technical and professional components.

Routine screening mammograms are often covered by insurance as part of a yearly well woman exam. Diagnostic mammograms, which take more images from different vantage points, may be ordered if a screening mammogram shows something your doctor wants to see more closely, or if you have certain symptoms. Most insurance companies put the costs of screening mammograms toward your deductible. If you have questions or concerns about your insurance coverage or how insurance payments will be processed, please reach out to your insurance provider to learn more.

When a diagnostic test is done, by law it has to be read and interpreted by a licensed radiologist. Our doctors at CORA read procedures for all of the hospitals in the area.

When you have a follow-up appointment with your doctor to go over your test results, he or she references the report from our radiologists. Your physician does not perform the professional interpretation of your imaging exam.

Pre-authorization needs to come from your referring physician’s office. This is because your insurance company frequently requires chart notes from records at your doctor’s office to determine the medical necessity of the test. We are only the facility where the test is done. Obtaining pre-authorization is the responsibility of the patient and the referring doctor. The referring physician’s office may need to be told that an authorization needs to be done, as they may not know the benefits of your policy.

Unfortunately not. When you receive a bill for the reading of your test (from Central Oregon Radiology) and a separate bill for the technical portion of the test (from Cascade Medical Imaging or Central Oregon MRI) they cannot be combined, as these are three separate companies.