Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve gathered answers to some of the most common questions about PinnacleCare’s Executive Program. If you can’t find the answer to your question here or would like more in-depth information, please contact us with your own questions.

 

 

Can we use “pieces” of PinnacleCare to enhance our executive benefit or is it an all-inclusive service?

We can design a program that will suit your business needs. While it is possible to take advantage of all our services, we can tailor a program that will work for you. Give us a call.

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How do I decide who should be covered by our executive wellness program?

Every business is different. We would be happy to talk to you about what other businesses like yours have elected to do, as well as go through different program options.

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Can PinnacleCare be helpful to a group of healthy executives?

Many of our business clients become PinnacleCare Members for convenience and peace of mind, not because of illness. They understand the impact of early detection on their most valuable people, as well as the burden of spending time on health-related administration. They want PinnacleCare to handle obtaining accelerated appointments, physician research, and all the forms for their appointments. They enjoy the ease and peace of mind when they are traveling knowing their medical records are gathered and stored and ready to be sent immediately at a moment's notice.

They know that our approach to wellness means an emphasis on a healthy lifestyle and early detection. This includes services such as regular updates about wellness issues, and information on alternative and integrative therapies. PinnacleCare can help your people find the best physicians when they relocate or are simply dissatisfied with their current quality of care. Finally, many companies simply expect the best in all aspects of their business, and now they can enjoy that in all areas of their healthcare.

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How do you manage privacy and confidentiality?

PinnacleCare takes the confidentiality and privacy of our Members’ medical information very seriously, not only from a legal standpoint, but from a moral and ethical perspective as well.

Our staff, including our PinnacleCare Advocates, executive team, and sales and marketing team, is trained in all aspects of privacy and confidentiality. Every employee executes a confidentiality agreement at the time of his or her employment. The Member’s healthcare is handled confidentially by the PinnacleCare Advocate Team.

Our goal is to help our Members get the very best healthcare for their families, and we accomplish this goal by working as a team and tapping into our extensive knowledge network. Although we are not required to be, we are HIPAA-compliant. All medical records are scanned into our secure, password protected server, and all paper records are kept securely stored.

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Does the cost of Membership cover treatment?

No. Membership fees do not cover the cost of medical treatment. Executive Physicals are paid by PinnacleCare regularly depending on the level of Membership.

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Do you work with our existing insurance?

We can assist in counseling executives on doctors within their insurance network in order to avoid out-of-pocket expense. Or, we can simply find the best network regardless of your choice.

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Can we use PinnacleCare services with a pre-existing condition?

Yes, no one is excluded for Membership based upon a pre-existing condition.

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Does PinnacleCare only refer to specific Centers of Excellence and their network of physicians?

No. 30% of our referrals are outside of our network and we have a database of over 5,000 physicians. We customize our search based on the clinical, geographic, and personal preferences of our Members. We often provide physician, hospital, and treatment options for our Members to consider from our own researched database of practitioners. However, if a Member has a need that cannot be met by a practitioner currently in our database, we will research available options and if we identify additional physicians, these will be offered to the member as options and added to the database for future reference. These are frequently resources that have been recommended to our PinnacleCare Advocates by our Medical Advisory Board, along with regional physicians and hospitals that we have researched as our Members have moved, traveled, and requested. We also research physicians and therapeutic approaches recommended by our Members who have had excellent prior experiences. On request, we will also provide background research on doctors that our Members want to remain with after they become PinnacleCare Members.

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What information about doctors and hospitals can you get that we can’t?

Experts in various specialties know and interact routinely with their peers discussing successes, failures, exciting new ideas, and disappointments. This information is shared much more rapidly informally among peers and the medical and lay press generally trails this informal process in reporting information. In fact, it is rarely, if ever, reported. Through the broad knowledge of our Medical Advisory Board, we are able to learn which physicians and hospitals are on the leading edge of medical treatments, diagnostic development, and innovative approach to healthcare. Because our PinnacleCare Advocates are taught how the healthcare system works, they can frequently obtain knowledge from hospital and office administrators, nurses, and others about how patients feel about the service a physician provides and through meticulous research, the success they have had. People with the appropriate skill set who are determined to do intensive research and spend the time to uncover in-depth knowledge can achieve this themselves, despite the time-consuming and arduous nature of the search. PinnacleCare exists for those who want to hire experts to do this for them. With PinnacleCare, our Members can use their valuable time to care for their loved ones, focus on business, or pursue other activities, knowing we will manage all their healthcare-related needs.

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Is it possible to request a specific doctor?

Yes. The Member’s wishes are always paramount. Members can request a specific doctor. We will research the background of this doctor to ensure that doctor has deep experience in the area of concern to your employee. We might also suggest alternative physicians whom we believe to be qualified, based on location (if that is a key criterion), treatment options associated with each doctor, and the doctor’s availability. Members will be given options beyond their initial request that take into account all these variables. It is always the Member’s choice!

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Why do doctors and hospitals accept PinnacleCare Members preferentially?

PinnacleCare is promoting the practice of medicine the way most doctors prefer to practice it with the focus on the individual, not the hospital, the employer, or the insurance company. The doctors and hospitals know that with the management of their PinnacleCare Advocate Team, a PinnacleCare patient will arrive prepared, with all their records and forms, and their questions prepared. We have formal agreements for this type of preferential treatment with many leading Centers of Excellence. Our Members, with the help of their PinnacleCare Advocate, are generally treated in a preferential manner at hospitals where we do not have a formal agreement. Additionally, our Members are frequently desirable patients in that they are typically affluent and educated individuals.

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Some of our executives are happy with a primary care doctor. How do you keep him involved or do you expect them to change?

Many of our Members elect to remain with their primary care doctors. Other Members ask us to provide options. Many primary care doctors are our biggest fans. They are grateful for PinnacleCare’s rigorous attention to detail and research. In other words, primary care doctors frequently see PinnacleCare as a tremendous resource, we can do the in-depth research on treatment options that the primary care physician would like to do but does not have the time for. We can also get accelerated access to the best specialists, something that many primary care physicians are not able to accomplish. We also make sure that the local primary care physician gets all our Members' medical records for any care that we arrange. We strive to always keep them up to date on their patients. And, of note, we provide a good deal of the administrative support the current healthcare system cannot afford to provide, making the physician’s job easier.

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