Insured patients

EVC welcomes insured patients from all companies. When making your appointment, please inform the receptionist whether you are insured and ideally provide us with your insurance details. It is also a good idea to give your insurance company a call before your appointment here to inform them that your vet has referred your pet to EVC for treatment.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee whether treatment for your pet will be covered by your policy as there is huge variation in insurance policies available. If you would like to know for certain if treatment will be covered, please contact us before your appointment so that we can arrange a pre-authorisation (see below) for treatment - this is unfortunately not possible with all insurance companies.

The Claims Procedure

In general, we would expect you to settle the cost of the consultation and treatment first and we will then work closely with the insurance company to help process your claim as quickly as possible so you are not out of pocket too long. Please email info@eyevetclinic.co.uk or alternatively let our reception staff know each time you would like us to process a claim. We aim to complete claim forms within 5 working days but it may take your insurance company another week to log the claim onto their system before you can discuss it with them. For clients holding an RSA policy (More Th<n, Tesco, M&S & John Lewis) other arrangements are in place (see below)

When you come for your appointment, it is very helpful if you can bring your insurance information (policy number, policy document) with you as this may aid us in processing your claim. It is also helpful if you can bring a claim form for us to complete.

You will have to make a separate claim for any related treatment performed by the referring vet, and most insurance companies will not process our claim until the claim from your vets has been received, so its helpful to us if this is done before your appointment here.

Insurance Claim Fees

For direct claims only, we charge an administration fee of £38.

Direct Claims

We do not routinely make direct claims unless you are insured with a policy administered by the RSA (More Th<n, Tesco, M&S & John Lewis). If this applies to you see RSA information below.

However, if you do not hold an RSA insurance but if your pet requires surgery that you would be uncomfortable to settle upfront, we can try to arrange a direct claim for the operation with your insurance company.

A good example for this would be if your dog needed cataract surgery - we would be happy to arrange a direct claim, but this can only be done after we have requested a pre-authorisation for the expected cost of treatment with the insurance company. This can take up to 7 working days - which means that it is really only applicable for scheduled procedures. Please note that any agreement of us to make a direct claim on your behalf does not constitute a contract between your insurance company and EVC and we ask that you settle any outstanding balances that have not been paid by your insurance company after 30 days with us.

Please also note that we will only consider a direct claim for the surgery and that any consultations before or after the operation will need to be settled by yourself and claimed back by yourself with our help.

In an emergency situation there is often not enough time to arrange a pre authorisation, so direct claims are difficult to arrange. However if you are worried about the cost of treament please let us know so we can see what we can do to help. After all, everyone here at EVC wants your pet to receive the best treatment quickly!

Pre Authorisation

It can be difficult to know if your pet will be covered for treatment as there are huge variations in pet insurance policies. If you are concerned about the cost of treatment, or you would like us to arrange a direct claim, we can often carry out a pre-authorisation for the expected treatment cost with your insurance company. In order to do so we would need the following from you

* Your policy details - Policy number, inception date etc

* A pre authorisation form (this can usually be requested by phone from your company, or downloaded from their website

* You will need to call your insurance company and give them permission for EVC to discuss your policy with them.

Most pre-authorisations take at least 3 working days to arrange and some may take significantly longer, therefore pre-authorisations are usually only applicable to elective operations that are scheduled in advance. In an emergency situation, it is rarely possible to get a rapid response from your insurance company, although we are happy to try.

RSA Policies (More Than, Tesco, M&S & John Lewis)

Special arrangements have been made for clients holding any of the above policies as EVC is working closely with the RSA to provide a smooth service. If you hold any of the above policies the following will apply..

* For initial consultations and re-examinations you will be asked to settle your bill at the time and we will arrange with RSA for you to be reimbursed very quickly. This applies to appointments both at EVC and all of our outclinics.

* For any surgical procedures we will arrange a direct claim with RSA, so you do not have to pay anything but the routine excess and our direct claim admin fee. If you have an appointment and believe your pet requires surgery, please let us know when making the appointment so we can check your policy details and level of cover before you arrive.

If our staff are concerned that for some reason your policy does not cover the required treatment, the above will not apply and we will ask you to either settle for the treatment yourself, or wait until a direct claim has been pre authorised.