Our pathology group is independent of Lexington Medical Center (won't necessarily have same contracts as the hospital) and is a "contracted provider" of pathology services for a small number [see below] of the thousands  of insurance companies in the USA. We have contractually agreed to  fee schedules for this group, below, on which they pay a high percentage of their determination of our fee "allowable" (they reprice our bill according to their "allowable"...always less than our charge or fee schedule) after your deductible has been met (but, your deductible relates to the balance due based on the repriced bill & is why we urge you to be sure that our billing company has all of your up to date insurance info). Essentially all of the other companies  (except for Mail Handler's Benefit Plan) will allow/pay a substantial part of our fee by viewing us pathologists as "out-of-network providers".

Because our group MUST perform the pathology exams on all tissue and cytology specimens obtained in the Lexington Medical Center main hospital in West Columbia, or centers in the town of Lexington or the Lexington center in Irmo, your insurance must pay your bill from us (because you had no power to make your specimen go to their "preferred provider"). To see what Lexington Medical Center has as contracts (and with links from there to the companies), check HERE.

We are contracted with:

• Aetna: Nope! We applied to be participating providers July 2003,  and their 16 July response stated, "I regret to inform you that the [provider] network in your area is currently at capacity, and we are not accepting new providers in your field of practice at this time." So, we could not even get to first base with them. But, we protested and have sent in the forms as of 15 August 2003. We have not been able to get any further response. Our hospital contracted as of 4/15/07 after an 18 month negotiation...we remain hopeful.
• The Best Chance Network...female patients only, 803-750-1693 http://www.scdhec.gov/cancer/bcn.htm
• Blue Choice Health Plan of S. C., Inc. (replaces Companion as 1 July 2005) http://www.bluechoicesc.com/.
• Carolina Care Plan ( formerly Physicians Health Plan [PHP]). 803-750-7400 http://www.carolinacareplan.com [On 5/8/07, announced to be bought by Medical Mutual of Ohio & is effective 1 Jan. 2009, Carolina Care Plan (CCP)/SuperMed].
• Champus Tri-Care, 800-403-3950 http://www.mytricare.com/tric_content.nsf or http://www.humana-military.com ; Humana Military healthcare services (HMHS) serviced TRICARE beginning in 2004; Palmetto Government Benefits Administrators, div. of BC-BS through 2006; then changed name to InStil Health Insurance Company, TRICARE HealthCare Services (of BC-BS).
• Cigna (including Cigna-Healthsource, a CIGNA HealthCare Company, 800-720-3150) http://www.cigna.com/general/sitemap.html . As of 6/1/2011, we are also with GWH-CIGNA and Great-West Healthcare.
• Companion HealthCare a BC-BS of SC HMO, 803-786-8466 http://www.companionhealthcare.com changed to BlueChoice, above.
• Health Care Savings (HCS): by merger Jan. 2005 between Health Care Savings (operating subsidiary of Carolina Doctors Care of the North Carolina Medical Society) & Physician's Care Network, S.C. Medical Association's PCN insurance program http://healthcaresavings.com/; HCS bought 18 July 2006 by MedCost, see below.
• HMO Blue (as of 1 Jan. 2001...defunct as of 7/2003) http://www.hmobluesc.com/hmob_index.htm.
• InStil Health... see Champus-Tricare above.
• Medicaid, 803-788-7622 http://www.state.sc.us/dhhs/
• Medical Mutual of Ohio 800/523-8558 http://www.medmutual.com/ bought Carolina Care Plan & Premier Health Systems as of 1 January 2009, Premier/SuperMed Access, see Premier, below.
• Medicare, 800-868-2522 http://www.medicare.gov/
• MedCost: 800-824-7406 http://www.medcost.com/contracted as of 1 July 2003.
• Palmetto SeniorCare (PSC): a PACE program in central South Carolina
• PCN...see Health Care Savings, above. http://www.physicianscarenet.com.
• PHP...see Carolina Care Plan, above.
• PPC...see Preferred Blue, below.
• Preferred Blue of S. C. [formerly PPC] (BC-BS of SC), 800-288-2227 http://www.bcbssc.com/
• Premier Health Plan (Premier Health Systems, Inc.), 800-773-1445 http://www.premierhealth.com [On 12/15/08, announced to be bought by Medical Mutual of Ohio & is effective 1 Jan. 2009 Premier/SuperMed Access]
• Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS): we began negotiations with this network April 2007...contract pending.
• S. C. State Employees (BC-BS of SC), 800-868-2520 http://www.southcarolinablues.com/ and click on "site index" and scroll down for "State Employees".
• TRICARE...see Champus-Tricare, above.
• United Health Care (UHC): Contract signed by us 11/22/04 & is in effect for dates of service 1/1/05 & beyond. http://www.uhc.com/
• Vocational Rehabilitation.
• WellPath/Coventry: We THOUGHT we began with them in Jan. 2011 but currently not sure. http://chcnorthcarolina.coventryhealthcare.com/
• Workers Compenstation.

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(posted May 2002; last addition 26 July 2011)