Frequently Asked Questions
For private practice physicians & other providers
About United Allergy Services
United Allergy Services is a value-added ancillary medical services company that specializes in helping practitioners expand their on-site patient care through a variety of service lines, including allergy care. Our range of allergy care services, from fully staffed and operated allergy centers to remotely supported allergy testing kits and staffing support, allows us to scale our solutions to your needs, increasing physician revenue and business outcomes while maximizing patient convenience.
UAS works with a variety of practitioners to provide support that is scaled to their needs, practice growth and business goals, and patient population. These include, but are not limited to, primary care providers, pulmonologists, ENT providers, dermatologists, pediatricians, internal medicine providers, allergists, and healthcare systems.
Medical Practice Growth
One way to grow your practice and increase physician revenue is to expand your service lines, allowing patients access to more treatment and care options under your roof. Offering allergy testing and immunotherapy options are ways to generate increased practice revenue while providing convenience and additional benefits to patient care.
Providers can expand their clinic by offering allergy testing and immunotherapy options to patients who regularly experience seasonal allergies and could benefit from allergy relief options outside of inhaled or injectable steroids and antihistamines. Long term management of allergy symptoms can help prevent urgent care visits when allergy related diagnosis such as allergic rhinitis and allergic sinusitis symptoms become intolerable.
While there are several ways to increase physician revenue including growing your patient base and expanding clinic hours, every practice should evaluate the service lines available within the clinic. Adding a service line such as allergy care helps to maximize potential to keep patients under the care of their trusted providers while providing additional treatment options for frequent diagnosis such as allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, and conjunctivitis.
Fully-Staffed Allergy Centers
There is no up-front financial investment required from you. You medically supervise United Allergy Services personnel within the allergy center and make all medical decisions for your patients. United Allergy Services only provides allergy services to the patients that you recommend for allergy testing and that you approve for immunotherapy. You provide space and accommodations for United Allergy Services staff including a full size refrigerator to store medications, phone line, internet access and access to a sink.
United Allergy Services will provide, at its own cost, all personnel, supplies and equipment needed for your allergy center to function smoothly and efficiently, and help you increase physician revenue. United Allergy Services has also invested heavily in the training of our Clinical Allergy Technicians/Specialists (CAT/CAS). They are trained in the latest techniques for allergy testing and meet or exceed Federal Standards for allergy testing.
You maintain total control of cash flow. Insurance companies will pay you in the same manner as they do currently. You will continue to receive insurance reimbursements and collect patient co-pays for services rendered. United Allergy Services will then assist with the revenue cycle process and invoice you for services provided to you and your patient’s incident to and under the supervision of the healthcare provider.
United Allergy Services provides training for administrative and clinical staff. Training includes information about immunotherapy science and regulatory requirements. We also do extensive training with the providers and providers on site. We will go over step-by-step what is required of you and how we will integrate into your practice.
United Allergy Services (UAS) will provide ongoing support services through continuing education for UAS staff and for providers. United Allergy Services will manage and support all administrative and technical requirements of the allergy center. The local United Allergy Services Regional Market Manager assigned to your practice will work with your staff on a daily basis to ensure a successful partnership.
United Allergy Services will provide you with patient education and marketing materials for your office in order to communicate to your patients. We also work closely with your practice to assist in other marketing programs such as print, online, broadcast and television advertising, direct mail campaigns, media communications and signage.
Our range of on-site testing services available to you currently includes environmental, food, and penicillin allergies. Patients will receive their results at the end of their appointment as well as important information on avoidance and next steps, when relevant.
Through our environmental allergy testing, you can test your patients for 54 of the most geographically relevant allergens in your region. Those include tree, grass and weed pollen, molds, dog and cat dander, cockroach and mite.
Our food allergy testing encompasses 23 different food allergens, including the 8 most common food allergies: wheat, egg, cow’s milk, soy, tree nut, fish and shellfish.
You also have the ability to test patients for penicillin allergy. To learn more about our on-site allergy testing, click here.
You, the provider, will determine which patients are candidates for allergy testing and immunotherapy services. You will manage all medical decisions and supervise the clinical aspects of the allergy center, while a UAS-staffed Clinical Allergy Specialist will help educate patients, administer tests and manage their mixed immunotherapy vials.
Because United Allergy Services only provides allergy services upon your request, you and your staff must facilitate patient identification and scheduling. You will also need to provide assistance with the collection of patient data to confirm medical necessity, as well as administrative help processing and communicating with payers regarding insurance benefits and payments.
Allergy Testing Kits & Immunotherapy Services
We offer two Allergy Testing Kits: Environmental and Food.
The Environmental Allergy Testing Kit includes 54 different allergen extracts, allowing you to test for the most geographically relevant allergens in your region. Those include tree, grass and weed pollen, molds, dog and cat dander, cockroach and mite.
The Food Allergy Testing Kit includes 23 different food allergen extracts, including the 8 most common food allergies: wheat, egg, cow’s milk, soy, tree nut, fish and shellfish.
Upon your allergy testing kit purchase, you will receive a variety of virtual resources to facilitate onboarding. As part of your welcome package, you will also receive clinical, operational and patient education materials to ensure you are able to begin administering allergy testing with confidence. In addition, you will have access to our Customer Support Team, who are prepared to assist you in a variety of areas, including operational procedures, kit and additional materials orders, and the processing of allergy test results and immunotherapy orders.
Depending on which package you purchase and your reimbursement rates, one patient test per month should more than cover your cost. Note the subscription option requires a minimum quarterly immunotherapy purchase since kit replenishment is at no additional cost.
This is completely up to you. Most practices have a dedicated staff member that oversees the allergy program with one or two other staff members partially trained to provide support as needed.
Expect about one month from the time you sign the contract until you test patients to allow for processing, shipment, online education, and orientation.
The most important learning tool is the Clinic Reference Guide, which will be included in your initial materials. There are over 25 online courses to supplement the information found in the guide. Depending on the individual’s prior experience, training, and level of knowledge, they should plan on at least five hours to review the online courses plus additional time to thoroughly review the Clinic Reference Guide.
About one week, but could be up to ten business days for ground delivery.
Our dedicated customer support center is available 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Central Time), Monday through Friday, and can be reached at Rx.Support@allereach.com and (844) REACHRX or (844) 732-2479.
The patients are always patients of your practice and should go to you for their health questions. If you need additional support regarding their allergy results, please contact our customer support team as noted above.
Billing and collections are the responsibility of the practice, but we do provide a general overview of allergy billing during the orientation. Additionally, our RX Support Team can provide some high-level ongoing support if you have billing questions.
Although most US insurance carriers cover allergy testing and subcutaneous immunotherapy, most do not cover sublingual immunotherapy. However, some insurance plans might cover or reimburse the cost of sublingual immunotherapy under the patient’s HSA/HMA plan.
Allergy Testing & Immunotherapy
The typical immunotherapy patient suffers from seasonal environmental allergies. Further, the immunotherapy patient may have only experienced partial benefits or had unsuccessful experiences with standard allergy medications that failed to provide a solution. Finally, the patient needs to be willing and capable of complying with the requirements of an immunotherapy program.
Under provider supervision, the CAT/CAS performs skin (prick) testing for seasonal and perennial allergens (including dust mites, weeds, trees, grasses, molds, pet dander and cockroach). Skin (prick) testing creates a IgE mediated reaction on the surface of the skin that can be measured and these positive results create the basis for the discussion of “avoidance therapy” and the formulation of individualized allergen immunotherapy vials.
After the patient has tested positive for various antigens, the provider examines the test results for clinical significance. Then, if the provider and the patient choose to move forward with allergy shots or allergy drops (if both modalities are available), the provider orders the immunotherapy. Each immunotherapy treatment is customized and specific to each patient based on his or her allergy test results.
Under the fully-staffed allergy center model, the Clinical Allergy Specialist will prepare and create the patient’s vials. Under the allergy testing kit model, the provider will carry this process out; training and procedural materials will be given to the provider so that they can comfortably and confidently complete this step.
The immunotherapy can be safely administered either in the office or at home, if the provider deems it appropriate through United Allergy Services guidelines.
The exclusion criteria in part consists of a history of severe allergic reactions, or uncontrolled asthma, the use of beta blockers, pregnancy, the use of immunosuppressant medications (e.g. chemotherapy etc.), uncontrolled hypertension or significant cardiopulmonary disorders (e.g. CHF, MI, cardiac arrhythmias or moderate to severe COPD), and those with extensive atopic dermatitis or psoriasis may not be good candidates for immunotherapy. An extensive allergy history will be taken on each patient before commencing allergy testing and immunotherapy.
An ear, nose, and throat exam is performed by the provider and the provider determines if allergy testing is medically appropriate. If the patient is currently taking antihistamines, he/she should discontinue usage prior to testing based on the time it takes for the medication to metabolize out of the patient’s system and on the provider’s clinical judgment.
Designing and implementing allergy immunotherapy protocols is within the scope of practice for MDs and DOs. Most mid-level practitioners may also supervise the preparation of the immunotherapy serum. This may vary based on individual state guidelines and health plan policy.
WORK WITH US
Learn about how we work with providers to help them improve the lives of allergy sufferers in their patient population and community.