Insurance & Billing

Cerbo Clinic is in-network with most major health insurance plans.

We provide emergency neurosurgery care for all, independent of insurance status. 

For elective evaluations, you may choose private pay or inquire with your health insurance (customer care phone number on the back of your card) if they will authorize a visit with Cerbo Clinic (tax ID 81-5138921). You may need to request pre-authorization and a specialist referral from your Primary Care Provider (PCP).

Health Insurance means you may be covered for health services from hospitals, doctors, rehabilitation clinics and other healthcare organizations and professionals.

Neurosurgery services include emergency health crises that require in-patient care, ICU (intensive care unit) care, and highly sophisticated surgery interventions on the brain, spine and nerves. 

The cost of such (often life-saving) surgeries exceeds what most people can pay out-of-pocket. Insurance is generally needed to cover the cost of surgery for conditions of the brain and spine and nerves.

Cerbo Clinic contracts with most Health Insurance companies and their plans, for the convenience and benefit of our patients. Please familiarize yourself with the insurances we contract with.

Whereas we strive to keep this list updated, the listing of a particular insurance or plan does not guarantee that the insurance will honor their contracts, or will pay for the insured patient’s consultations or surgery.

Contact us for any questions or concerns about your surgery including insurance coverage and charges for a planned surgery, or for services already provided.

Cerbo Clinic is in-network with several health insurances and accepts health insurance payments for outstanding patient balances. However, health insurances are for-profit corporations that often leave their customers, e.g. patients, stranded without payment for medical services that have already been provided to them (for instance, in a life saving emergency operation for trauma or stroke or brain cancer).

Often, insurance companies pay only an insufficient, partial amount for the services provided.

Payment for medical services is the responsibility of the patient receiving care or the guarantor/policy holder. By establishing care with Cerbo Clinic, you assume responsibility for payment of your medical bills.

Please note that in addition to your surgeon’s fees owed to Cerbo Clinic, you and your health insurance will likely be responsible for additional costs and invoices related to surgery. These charges may be related to services rendered by hospitals, imaging centers, pharmacies, and independent medical professionals (e.g. anesthesiologists, radiologists, etc).

If your insurance is not listed, please contact us and we may be able to request authorization for payment from your insurance carrier ahead of treatment.

We reserve the right to charge 50% of customary surgeon fees (advance payment/retainer/registration fee) prior to scheduling any surgery with the hospital or surgery center. We will return the advance payment to you once we have received payment from your insurance company.

For a list of health insurances we accept – see below.

Concierge neurosurgery option:  Contact Cerbo Clinic for VIP options and pricing.

Choosing an in-network surgeon helps cut down any costs for you, because in-network means surgeon will accept the lower rates for the convenience of less paperwork, and will never send you a bill other than copays.

Cerbo Clinic is in-network with all major insurance companies because we want to be and remain accessible, and make it easy for our patients to get care without having to worry about out-of-network fees.

To check if Cerbo Clinic (or other specialist you are interested in) is in network with your insurance, do this:

1. take your insurance card and flip it around
2. call the number on the back
3. tell the customer care agent you want to check if a specialist is in network with them
4. Give them the surgeon’s or clinic’s tax ID and they will check it for you. Cerbo Clinic tax ID is 81-5138921.
5. If your insurance says Cerbo Clinic is not in network, kindly let us know and we will look into starting the onboarding for your insurance.  Just email us at billing@cerboclinic.com

Blue Shield – in network but technical access issues have not been resolved by that insurance company, despite our best and repeated efforts. We regret we will not accept any BS members until further notice. If you are a BS member interested in establishing care at Cerbo Clinic, contact Blue Shield and ask them to contact Cerbo Clinic by email to billing@cerboclinic.com

Insurance companies frequently look at the merits of a proposed non-emergent treatment. While well intended to prevent unnecessary cost, the process now involves AI bots programmed to outright reject payments for needed treatments.

Rejected payments become the responsibility of the patient and next of kin. Whereas hospitals will engage in legal proceedings to recoup their owed funds, physicians and surgeons are often left without payments, and worse, patients increasingly face medical bankruptcy.

Therefore, should you be on a plan that requires pre-authorization, be prepared for a lengthy process. You want to ensure that you are covered financially, with a written document from your insurance, prior to requesting services involving  hospitalization, intensive (ICU) care, complex subspecialty care including anesthesia and operating theatre services, inpatient rehabilitation etc.

Please note that a verbal “you are covered” from anyone is insufficient to protect you from medical bills that your insurance company refused to pay. Insurances frequently create charge-backs to hospitals and physicians months or even years after initial payment, which then become the liability of the patient.

Ultimately, it will be your financial responsibility in case your insurance refuses to pay for services rendered, or later reverses decisions and creates chargebacks.

We bill your insurance first. Copays and additional costs not covered by your insurance will be billed to you. For any questions or concerns regarding payments or costs, feel free to email billing@cerboclinic.com

Reach out to billing@cerboclinic.com and we will send you a fair pricing list for our neurosurgery service fees. Please note that we do not have any information about what the hospitals and specialists (anesthesia, radiology, intensive care doctors, rehab specialists etc) would charge.

For hospital financial information and service fees, click the link and follow the prompts to contact the hospital billing departments for cost estimates.

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