Is it normal to have to pay the full cost of surgery for breast augmentation the day of your pre op appointment?

Although each surgeon will have his or her own office policy, in
general it will be at least 2 weeks before surgery.  My patients are required to put down a deposit
to secure a surgery date and full balance is due 2 weeks prior as well as all
of their surgical documentation.  We
accept various modes of payment as well as have financing options available.  My fees include the
surgical fee, operating room fee, anesthesia fee and all follow up visits. 

This is a good question.  Yes, it is standard to pay in full prior to any cosmetic / plastic surgery.  When the full payment is due depends on different office policy.  For our office, a deposit is left at your initial visit or when you decide to book your surgery to reserve your date of surgery.  We collect the final payment at your pre-op visit which is generally 2 weeks prior to your surgery.  For our office, the anesthesiologist and facility fees are paid separately and those are paid on the day of surgery, but this can differ depending on where you are having surgery.  There are different payment options including check, credit card and financing options for plastic surgery including CareCredit to finance procedures such as breast implants.  Good Luck.     

Dear Roxy,    There is no 'standard' for surgery payment, though most surgeons require payment for surgery 1 - 2 weeks before surgery in order to reserve the surgery time. That is done to prevent financial loss for the surgeons in case of a short notice canceleation that does not give enough time to fill up the slot. For that reason, payments close to surgery are uncommon and personal checks are not accepted. If you have full confidence in your surgeon and you are sure of having the surgery done , paying for surgery at the preop vist should not make a difference. Always, consult with board certified plastic surgeons and check their before and after pictures to make sure that you like the results.           Best of luck,                                Dr Widder

because there are too many people that will not pay if given the chance to do so down the road.  Another reason very few practices finance for their patients.  So this is entirely normal and I would be surprised if some practices didn't do it this way.  Should extenuating circumstances lead to your procedure being cancelled, you should get a refund per the doctor's policy.

Thank you for the question.Every practice has it's own policies on how payments should be paid and when. This is a complete normal action if it's a serious practice. I normally ask for final payment on the preop appointment or surgery morning before the procedure, this makes everything less stressful on surgery morning if your card doesn't work or something else.Dr. Campos

All fees are paid up front. My pre op visit is usually 2 weeks before surgery and our patients pay their fees. We go over the consent and all of the paperwork before is completed. Also, you are given your prescriptions and  you are sized for implants if needed.

No, it is not usual to pay for surgery on the day of your first consultation unless you are scheduling surgery in a few days. Otherwise, it is more usual to expect payment two weeks prior to surgery. The total fee for a BA is $4100 plus the cost of the implants. Saline implants are $1000/pair and Silicone are $2000/pair. The total cost includes the Board Certified Professional fee, Board Certified Anesthesia fee, and Medicare Approved Surgicenter fee.

I request that surgical fees be paid in full about two weeks preop.  If your preop consultation occurs within that period, then it is a reasonable request.  The surgeon is responsible for paying for the implants, anesthesia and facility out of the fee.  Check your financial information form for information regarding cancellation, rescheduling and postop followup.

Thank you for your question.  Offices have varying policies regarding payments.  In our office the patient pays in full at least 2 weeks prior to the surgical date.  This may be the day of the preop visit but not always.  Hope this helps.Tracy M. Pfeifer, MD, MS

In my practice full payment is required the day of the preoperative visit.  This is pretty much standard in most practices for cosmetic surgery.