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Your First Visit

During your initial visit to Salem Oncology Center, Dr. Salem will take your medical history and perform a physical examination. He will order appropriate tests and later review the test results with you in person. If you are referred to us by another physician, we will send a typed summary of your visit with Dr. Salem to your doctor, and if you need to take medical documents home with you, we will provide them for you.

We coordinate all outpatient testing and use the highest-quality laboratory, pathology, and radiology facilities. For outpatient chemotherapy, we arrange quiet, private rooms in our outpatient center.

Schedule
Your Visit

Schedule Your Visit

If you have the materials listed below, please call

713-796-1221

What You Will Need

Pathology slides and paraffin blocks, as well as the pathology report. Bringing both the slides and blocks is essential for a more accurate diagnosis confirmation. Paraffin blocks contain additional tissue that is critical for special stains. These blocks differ from slides and do not break, as slides sometimes do. You must bring slides and paraffin blocks because it is crucial for pinpointing a definitive diagnosis and planning your treatment.
  • All actual X-ray films and X-ray reports.
  • All medical reports and documents, including a recent medical report from your doctor.
  • Insurance card.
  • Financial deposit (please see Financial Information section). Please do not leave your city, state, or country of origin before you obtain financial clearance from our Business Office.
  • A list of questions or concerns regarding your condition.

Prescription Refills

Please contact your pharmacy for prescription refills during our office hours because this allows the pharmacy to reach us if necessary. We must check your medical chart before approving refills.

If you need a refill as the weekend approaches:

  • Please call us before 2:00 pm on Friday to permit enough time to approve refills.
  • Kindly have your pharmacy telephone number ready.

Hospital Admissions

All patients requiring hospitalization are admitted to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, located across the street from Salem Oncology Center. All hospital admissions are coordinated and facilitated by Eleni A. Papageorge or another Salem Oncology Center staff member, thereby minimizing the hospital admission process's stress on the patient. This process can be time-consuming, frustrating, and tedious without such assistance.

For information about St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital admission and financial policies, you may contact the St. Luke's Admitting Office at 832-355-2132 or, for international patients, at 832-355-3350, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Once the pre-admission requirements (including financial arrangements) are fulfilled, you will be given information about the time of admission, the expected length of your stay, and your treatment plan.

Prescription Refills

Financial Information

Before testing or treatment at Salem Oncology Center, our Business Office will estimate the cost of services. NOTE: We are NOT contracted with any insurance companies, including Medicare. Therefore, all insurance patients will go “out of network” when they come to Salem Oncology Center. Any agreement by your insurance company to pay for your medical care is a contract between you and your insurance company. The ultimate responsibility of paying your medical expenses rests with you. Accordingly, during your initial visit, you must sign a statement accepting and acknowledging ultimate financial responsibility for your medical expenses. Because we are not contracted with insurance companies, an upfront financial deposit for all estimated services will be made before testing and treatment start. Suppose your insurance covers any of the treatments provided by Salem Oncology. In that case, you are responsible for filing the claims directly with your insurance carrier, instructing your insurance company to reimburse you directly.
  • For U.S. insurance patients, testing charges (x-ray, labs, pathology, EKG, Echo, outside consultants, etc.) approved by your insurance will be billed directly by the testing facility to your insurance carrier.
  • For International patients, all charges will be submitted to your Salem Oncology Center account and included in all estimates provided. Salem Oncology Center does not accept Letters of Guarantee from government agencies, embassies, or third-party payers.

Why we do not accept insurance

Salem Oncology Center is a highly sophisticated cancer treatment facility committed to providing the patient with the best chance for a cure. Insurance companies and third-party payers routinely and frequently interfere with the delivery of medical care due to financial parameters. While the objective of our Center is to cure the patient, the main aim of insurance companies, historically, is to minimize costs all too often to the detriment of the patient. In diseases other than cancer, the difference between insurance-reimbursable care and care independent of third-party payers could be the difference between excellent care and poor-quality care. But in cancer, the difference could be between life and death. What differentiates our Center is that we provide medicine and care far beyond standard norms to achieve a cure. Therefore, we do not accept any restrictions or impediments to delivering the best medical care. Accordingly, we do not accept insurance or third-party payers.

A financial deposit sufficient to cover the estimated associated services costs is required before testing or treatment can start. This estimate and deposit should be discussed with our Business Office, with the understanding that testing and treatment will begin once such a deposit is made. Upon completion of testing and the finalization of all bills, any funds remaining on deposit with Salem Oncology Center will be returned to the patient. As an example, if a deposit of $35,000.00 is obtained, and the actual charges total $32,000.00 after your departure from Salem Oncology Center and after all services have been paid in full, $3,000.00 will be refunded to you in the same manner in which your initial deposit was made, e.g., if you paid with a credit card, we will issue a refund to your credit card.

Salem Oncology Center will never guarantee hospital admission for a patient. All hospital admission charges and related expenses are the patient's responsibility, who will be required to make a financial deposit to the hospital before admission. Accordingly, all patients should arrive at Salem Oncology Center with a VISA, MasterCard, or American Express credit card, which can be used as a deposit for hospital admission expenses, should this be required. Your credit card(s) should be able to authorize a minimum of at least $15,000 as a deposit for hospital expenses.

Financial Information