Patient Info


As directed on your invoice, you must send in your payment or be in touch with our offices to discuss your payment, provide valid insurance information, or discuss coverage issues. There is only a small window of opportunity for claims to be resubmitted to your insurer or before they may be assigned to collections if not resolved or paid.


Why you received an invoice

There are many reasons why you may have received an invoice for services from one of our physicians. Please refer to the reason noted on the invoice you were sent. The most common reasons are:

  • At the time of service, you did not provide your insurance information. Calling the hospital or MSP after the fact does not resolve the problem at our end. You must contact us as directed.

  • At the time of service, the information you provided was either incorrect or the hospital/office entered it incorrectly. Calling the hospital or MSP will not resolve this problem, you still need to contact us directly. The name and date of birth you provided at the time of service must match the name on your care card, even if it is wrong. Also, using nicknames or an alias will result in a claim refusal and could be the reason you received a bill.

  • If you have insurance in a province other than British Columbia, we need the health care number for the province that is responsible for the date the services were rendered, even if you already provided that to the hospital at the time of your visit. Please note that Quebec patients are not covered under the province’s reciprocal agreements and are personally responsible to the doctor for services received in provinces other than Quebec.

  • You may not have coverage for the date of service. Having a care card, being a Canadian citizen, or being a BC resident does not necessarily mean you have coverage. If you feel there is an error in this regard, you should contact Medical Services Plan and tell them you received a bill and what the date of service is. They will check your coverage. If they agree to reinstate and backdate your coverage, we may be able to resubmit the bill, however, you must contact us and keep us apprised of your efforts to obtain coverage as the window of opportunity for us to resubmit your claim is limited and once assigned to collections, the claim will not be resubmitted.

  • You may be covered under an alternate insurer. If you have medical coverage under the Interim Federal Health Program, then we need a copy of your IFH documents showing your Client ID #. If you are an RCMP officer then we may need your regimental, Hermes, and/or Blue Cross #. If you were covered under the federal or provincial corrections system, we need the CS # and the name of the institution. Patients with travel or alternate/private insurance are responsible for payment and, once your account is paid, a receipt can be requested for reimbursement purposes. If your claim is a workplace injury, you will need to provide valid WCB claim information, if the services you were billed for are covered by WCB.


How to pay your invoice

We do not accept credit card payments. We do not accept payments in person. We do not bill insurance companies directly. We do not provide physicians with personal banking information.

Payments can accepted by mail. Please send your check or money order made payable to the doctor noted at the top of the invoice and payment instruction section of your invoice. Payment is to be submitted by mail in a timely fashion to the address at the top of your invoice. Failure to do so may result in the assignment of the debt to Credex Financial. Once assigned, we cannot accept payment and will not resubmit claims, even if your coverage has been fixed, and all future dealings will be through the collection agency.

Payments can be accepted by e-transfer to payments@valleyvistabilling.ca only after you email for authorization instructions. Since email payments often come from someone other than the patient, we will have no way to match it up without knowing the patient's name and invoice reference number. These e-transfers are posted and forwarded directly to the doctor for deposit. Your bank will provide you with confirmation that the funds were accepted.

If you are not a BC resident with a BC bank account, your bank can issue a Canadian Money Order or Draft or you can send the current currency equivalent to the physician (check the internet for conversion information) drawn on your out-of-country bank account. If your country does not have a traditional banking system, we can arrange for a Western Union transfer or you can use the international e-transfer option if your bank can facilitate this. Please note we will not provide the physician's personal banking information under any circumstances.

If you have private insurance, you can forward the invoice to them and advise us accordingly, but late fees and assignment to collections may apply if timelines are not met.

Please note that fees paid to the hospital usually do not include the physician’s fee. If they did, you will have a receipt showing that the ER physician’s fee was paid and the amount. We will require a copy of that itemized receipt before your account can be closed.

Any invoice still outstanding after 30 days may be assigned to the collection agency and all future communication will be directed to them.


IMPORTANT

Patients who provide valid provincial insurance information, or acceptable alternate provincial insurance information, in a timely fashion will have their invoices redirected to their insurer. For those who make payment promptly as noted on your invoice, you can deduct the $100.00 administration fee from your invoice (deduct the $100.00 line item from the largest total on your invoice). Failure to respond promptly may result in the physician assigning your account to a collection agency. This may adversely affect your credit rating and prevent you from applying for a credit card, obtaining any additional credit, or refinancing existing loans and mortgages. Once a physician has assigned an account for collections, you must deal directly with the collection agency.

Please note that it is mandatory for patients seeking medical care in BC to have valid insurance to cover the services provided.

Please also note that we are a billing service. No patients are ever seen at our address nor do any doctors ever work at our address. Please refer to the date beside the code/description as this is the date you were seen by the doctor and most often this was at a hospital somewhere in BC.