Special Care for Women Frequently Asked Questions

RMC Anniston, Stringfellow, Oxford Surgery Center, Riverview in Gadsden.

Sorry, this is an elective option and is not covered by insurance. Our out-of-pocket charge for this special ultrasound is very competitive, at $119.00. This includes a DVD+RW to record the 20-minute ultrasound, a CD-ROM to store pictures that can later be uploaded to a computer or taken to a photo center to print out, and many ‘hard copy’ pictures printed for you immediately! Please make sure you discuss this with Dr. Richmond if you know that you would like it performed. This ultrasound can only be done between the fetal gestation of 28-32 weeks. Further, then 32 weeks, we cannot guarantee good images of your baby.

Before calling to schedule your surgery, our surgery schedulers will verify your insurance coverage so that they can give you that information when they call you.
It is recommended that you confirm the information we provide you with your provider, to make sure there are no errors.

We accept all major private insurances, such as Blue Cross, United Health Care, Aetna, Cigna, Humana, and others, and government insurances such as Medicare, Medicaid, AllKids, Humana, and Tricare. If by some rare chance, we do not accept your insurance, and you would like to see Dr. Richmond, please contact us so that we can apply to be on your plan!

Yes. We accept ‘Pregnancy Medicaid.’ Even if you have full Medicaid, you must apply for Pregnancy Medicaid. Pregnant Medicaid patients will need to call (855)288-8364 for the next steps in accessing your maternity care with us.

We accept ‘Full Medicaid.’ If you have Medicaid and are NOT pregnant, you must know if you have Medicaid Plan First or FULL Medicaid. Medicaid Plan First only covers FOUR visits per year, including a yearly exam with pap smear, or birth control problems. We DO accept Plan First as well, but only for those indicated reasons.

We send out bills every other month. Bills are turned over to collections after 6 months, which would be 3 statements.

Please contact our office. Perhaps we don’t have your correct billing address.

Please remember that, despite having one or more health insurance policies, we are governed by the policies. Sometimes co-pays must be paid, and/or deductibles met. We try to identify these at the time of service, but that is not always possible. Please contact our office if you feel any bill is in error!

While we WILL see walk-in patients, they must wait for an opening or be seen at the end of a work session.

Please call ahead if you have an emergency to speak with a nurse. In urgent situations, possible labor, or other emergencies, our nurses may work you in with the doctor on call or advise you on what to do for your individual situation.

Yes! So please make sure your contact information is correct! For GYN appointments, an automated system will call 1-2 days in advance to confirm.

Yes. We do charge you a cancellation fee or no-show fee without 24-hour notice.
So, out of consideration to our other patients and our physician, please give us 24-hour notice if you need to cancel.

Our billing department recommends that you wait a full 365 days between your yearly pap smear and/or mammogram appointments, then we are certain your insurance will cover your visits.

However, individual insurance policies do vary, so if you would like to check with your policy, call your plan administrator or the 800 number on your card. Ask if you have a policy that will cover your pap and/or mammogram “once per calendar year”. If that is the case, you may make an appointment before you have reached the 365-day mark.

We send out a Friendly Reminder postcard each year, to remind you to call and make your appointment! You may wait for that postcard, or call us anytime and we will look up your last appointment date.

Yes, if your flow is light, Dr. Richmond can still perform an exam and PAP smear.
If you are bleeding heavily, please reschedule.

Elevate your feet and decrease salt intake.

Usually, you will feel fetal movement at or around 18 weeks gestation.

Call and make a Gyn Problem type of appointment with Dr. Richmond to have a vaginal culture taken.

Please make an appointment to leave a urine specimen with us. This will not take long. We want to evaluate you as early as possible to give you the correct treatment.
Call and ask to speak with a nurse to have a same-day Lab appointment.
The Appointment Desk may help you with an appointment for another day.

Call us so we can work you in for an evaluation! At least 60% of all patients that THINK they have a yeast infection often have a different problem. The best way to treat this correctly is to evaluate you.

Legally, we have 30 days to process our medical records requests; however, it usually only takes our office staff 10 days or less. Please call and ask to speak with our medical records staff person if you need something arranged for a rush request and we are happy to accommodate.

Please call our office to have a records release form sent or faxed to you.
Once you sign that form, we will fax or mail your medical records to the address indicated.

You can purchase a DVD for $5.00 when you come for your ultrasound appointment and we will record on this DVD.
If you would like to provide your own DVD, it must be +RW type of disk.

Your “big” ultrasound is a ‘Level 2’ ultrasound, performed at 18-22 weeks gestation, and is called a “complete” ultrasound because we evaluate the growth of your baby and survey all of the fetal anatomy to rule out any abnormalities.

Yes, but this is usually a ‘courtesy’ ultrasound, which is elective. While the Level 2 ultrasound is covered by insurance, the cost of this ultrasound is $60.00. A DVD is provided, and can be used again at your Level 2 ultrasound.

We do a minimum of two sonograms.

Your first one will be at your initial obstetric appointment, and it will usually be a Transvaginal (TVS) sonogram. This helps us determine your dates of gestation.

The second will be at 18-22 weeks and is called the Level 2 sonogram. This is when you will find out the sex of your baby and we ensure your baby’s growth and development is on track.

Additional sonograms may be necessary, as determined by Dr. Richmond. Please inquire with our billing department if you have questions about insurance coverage for additional sonograms.

Yes, but they are NOT as good as prescription vitamins, due to the higher iron content, which is needed to prevent anemia.

We see you once every 4 weeks until week 20 of your pregnancy, then every 3 weeks until week 30.
We will see you every 2 weeks until week 35, and then we will see you weekly until delivery.

While some of this may be a part of your normal pregnancy experience, please call and ask to speak with one of our nurses. They will help you determine if you need an appointment with Dr. Richmond or not.

In most cases, Dr. Richmond will see you between 6 and 8 weeks, based on your last cycle.
Please be prepared with your correct cycle dates when you call. Earlier than 6 weeks, we can run an HCG lab work panel, to ensure your hormone levels are correct. If you come in to see the doctor before you are greater than 6 weeks, we will not be able to tell much on your first sonogram.

Congrats! Please call our office, and we will set you up an initial pregnancy visit, called a New OB appointment, with Dr. Richmond.
Make sure that you are prepared to give us the first day of your last cycle, so that we can best determine when to make this appointment.

The usual recommendation to begin PAP smears is at age 21; however, this may be individually determined by Dr. Richmond.

Dr. Richmond recommends a baseline mammogram between the ages of 35 and 40, then a mammogram each year after age 40.

You should be evaluated at least annually by Dr. Richmond. Also, for health issues needing intermittent therapy, please keep your scheduled appointments! Although a PAP smear test may not be done every year, either due to age considerations or because of hysterectomy, you still need to schedule to see Dr. Richmond annually to assess female issues and for annual exam.

Typically, we do a pelvic exam, PAP smear and breast exam for your yearly GYN appointment. If you have additional health concerns, please make sure your nurse knows your questions or concerns before seeing your doctor so that she can make him aware.

At age 40, we will schedule a mammogram for each yearly visit- that cannot be accomplished on the same day unless we are able to plan ahead.

Around the age of 60, Dr. Richmond will request that we add a bone density scan to your yearly visit, doing those scans every other year in frequency.

The frequency of all exams and diagnostics may be adjusted to your individual health history and needs, as directed by your physician.