At Perfect Skin Dermatology, our number one goal is to take care of you, our patient. We believe that we are best serving you with a doctor-patient relationship that addresses you as an individual with specific needs and enables us to formulate treatment without restrictions from insurance companies, government, or employers. By providing you with direct care, we simplify the healthcare equation by cutting costs, improving access, and allowing you more control over your care, while the whole experience is financially transparent.

Advantages of Direct Patient Care

  • Immediate appointments: we will accommodate you within the same week or the next-week for most routine services.
  • Your Appointment is Never Rushed: you pick the amount of time that you need to address all of your needs (please see our table of appointment times for general guidelines).
  • Decreased Wait Times: we believe in quality over quantity and will never schedule more than 12 patients in a day (as opposed to most other dermatology practices, who schedule 30-50 patients for each provider daily).
  • You will ALWAYS see the Doctor: Dr. Schroeder believes there is no substitute for training. You are paying for excellent care rendered by a Board-certified and fellowship-trained Dermatologist, and you should receive nothing less.
  • Higher Quality Care: Physicians who opt-out of insurance-based reimbursement can spend more time with their patients and provide the treatments that we, as physicians, believe are best, not what a bureaucrat without specialized medical training mandates. We can dispose of superfluous governmental regulations that add nothing to your individual care.

What Does it Mean to be a Direct Patient Care Practice?

There are no co-pays, insurance cards, hidden fees, or surprise bills months later. You pay for exactly the care that you receive on the day that you receive it, and you know what the cost will be prior to treatment. This is not a membership club or a concierge service. You receive individualized care when you need it on your terms.

Many of our patients may be relieved, as they have high-deductible insurance, and a direct pay arrangement is more cost-effective for them. It also means that patients can choose what’s most important to them and take as little or as much time as they need. Billing is based primarily by time, and minor procedures during that visit (liquid nitrogen, shave and punch biopsies, electrodesiccation) will be less-costly add-ons to the time factor (for example, $50 for cryotherapy, destruction, or shave excision as opposed to $160-330 billed by insurance).

Direct care models decrease costs by cutting out the overhead that comes with insurance companies and regulations. As a result, we can provide a more reasonable fee to you (as opposed to the deductibles you may pay with insurance).

Dr. Schroeder believes that there is a time and a place for medical insurance, but probably not for most dermatologic concerns. Medical insurance is important for catastrophic events, just as in car, life, and disability insurance. Catastrophic only is the way medical insurance once was, but it has evolved into covering well-checks, skin exams, and day-to-day care. Imagine if your car insurance covered gas and oil changes: your insurance rates would be unaffordable, leading to lack of price transparency, over-utilization of services, and subsequent insurance control of the care of your vehicle. Does this resemble traditional medical insurance?

The direct care practice model enables Dr. Schroeder to spend focused time face-to-face with patients. Less time is spent waiting for your appointment, and you can often book a same-day or next day appointment. Your time is just as important as Dr. Schroeder’s.

How Does a Direct Care Model Work?

Patients pay Perfect Skin Dermatology directly for care at the time of service. Health spending and flex spending accounts are both accepted forms of payment for dermatologic services. For those patients that wish to submit their charges to private insurance for reimbursement, upon request, we provide an itemized and coded form and an out-of-network-healthcare reimbursement form for a fee ($5). Not all insurance plans allow for reimbursement. Please check with your individual plan regarding the rules that regulate these payments.

All new and existing patients will need to sign a private contract prior to receiving medical services at Perfect Skin Dermatology. Please be aware that Medicaid, Medicare, and Tricare do not reimburse patients for services, nor for any supplemental insurance for any services rendered by Dr. Schroeder. Your insurance WILL, however, be in effect for any labs, pathology services, medications, or imaging studies ordered through our office.

Scheduling and Pricing

You may schedule your appointment on-line or send us an email through our website to have us contact you at www.perfectskinderm.com. We do require an credit card encrypted on-file and will only charge this for no-shows ($50).

All medical, surgical, and cosmetic office visits must be paid at the time of service. Your office visit fee will be charged at the end of your appointment.

New cosmetic patients require a 30-minute consultation ($300 with 50% cost toward a procedure if booked within 30 days). If time-allowing, procedures may be performed the same day. Please be sure to let us know that you would like a same-day procedure, so that we may allow enough time during your visit.

Longer appointments (cosmetic and surgical procedures) may require a deposit to reserve the appointment time. If this is the case, you will be notified at the time of booking.

Health Savings (HSA) and Flex Spending accounts can be used for non-cosmetic services. Some insurance companies may require a coded receipt (superbill) as proof of services.

We accept cash, debit cards, HSA and FSA cards, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. We do not accept checks at this time.

Due to government regulations, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Supplements, Tricare, or other government insurance can be seen for medical services but the fees cannot be reimbursed by insurance. Patients with these insurances must sign a waiver before receiving care.

Fee Schedules

The following tables provide general guidelines and examples for visits based on time. You are more than welcome to book these online or discuss these parameters with us when you book an appointment for guidance.

Regarding Cosmetic Services: these appointments are based on individual quotes; only the consult is based on time (and is good towards services as explained below).

MEDICAL DERMATOLOGY

Time Fee Examples
Level I (10 minutes) $100 Follow-up and previously seen at our office within the past year. Follow-up monitoring on a mole.
Follow-up wart treatment or injection.
Follow-up for refills only without a change in management for a simple problem, such as acne, eczema.
Level II (11-20 minutes) $200 Recommended time slot for one minor procedure, such as actinic keratoses, skin tags, or a shave biopsy. A new rash.
Initial acne visit, or a follow-up for uncontrolled acne.
Upper body skin exam.
Level III (21-30 minutes) $300 Recommended minimum visit for a full-body skin exam. Patients who need or want up to 2 minor procedures.
Extensive rash.
Hair loss consultation.
Cosmetic Consultations.*
Level IV (31-45 minutes) $400 Patients with multiple complex dermatologic problems. Patients who need or want 3-4 minor procedures.
Patients with an extensive skin cancer history.
This time slot requires a deposit upon scheduling.
Level V (45-60 minutes) $500 Patients who wish to address multiple medical and cosmetic concerns. Patients who require or want multiple procedures (>4) in the same visit.
This time slot requires a deposit upon scheduling.

SURGERY

Time CostExamples
30 minutes $500 1. Excision of a small ( up to roughly 1.5 cm) cyst, scar, lipoma, or mole, and repair with stitches.
2. Earlobe repair (1).
45 minutes $7501. Excision of small skin cancer and repair with stitches.
2. Multiple punch excisions for acne scars.
3. Earlobe repair (2) or spacer repair(1)
60 minutes $10001. Excision of two small moles, lipomas.
2. Excision of larger cyst (2-4 cm), skin cancer (1.5-2 cm).
90 minutes $15001. Extensive excision/reconstruction for skin cancers or facial deformity.

Other Fees

Additional charge for shave biopsies, injections, cryotherapy, or cantharidin is a $50 flat fee, regardless of how many lesions are treated/removed during the scheduled time frame. Punch biopsies are a $75 flat fee.

  • Medical Coding Fee (superbill): $5.00
  • Medication Prior Authorization: $25.00
  • Medication Prior Authorization for Biologics: $50.00
  • FMLA and other similar forms: $25.00

Notice of Services

All patients wishing to be seen should review and sign our Notice of Services prior to/at their first appointment.

We require a signed copy prior to your first appointment.