Billing and Insurance at Columbia Memorial Health

As a member of the Albany Med Health System, Columbia Memorial Health and its physicians currently accept the following health insurance providers. Please verify with your insurance carrier for covered benefits and services.

• Aetna
• Aetna Medicare Advantage
• Blue Cross
• Blue Cross Medicare Advantage
• Blue Cross Exchange Product
• Blue Cross Child Health Plus
• Blue Cross Essential
• Blue Cross Medicaid
• Blue Shield of North Eastern NY (some contracts exclude lab services-see BS matrix)
• Blue Shield Medicare Advantage (some contracts exclude lab services-see BS matrix)
• CDPHP
• CDPHP Essential Plan
• CDPHP Medicaid Managed Care
• CDPHP Medicare Advantage
• CDPHP Exchange Product
• Champus/Tricare
• Cancer Services Program
• Diversified (Herrington and Camphill Contract Only)
• Fidelis
• Fidelis Medicare Advantage
• Fidelis Exchange Product
• Fidelis Essential Plans
• Emblem Health (GHI/GHI HMO/HIP)
• Emblem Health Medicare Advantage (GHI/GHI HMO/HIP)
• Hamaspik
• Hospice
• HRGI-FedMed
• Humana Medicare (The Albany Med Health System will no longer accept Humana Medicare for non-emergency services after June 30, 2024.)
• Magna Care Network
• Martins Point
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Multiplan/PHCS
• MVP
• MVP Gold
• MVP Exchange Product
• MVP Essential Plans
• MVP Medicaid Product
• Nascentia Health Medicare Advantage
• No-Fault
• Optum
• POMCO
• The Empire Plan (NYSHIP)
• United Health Care

Updated Feb. 2020

View a PDF of a bill from Columbia Memorial Health with explanations of the different bill components.

CMH’s Patient Accounting Department can assist you with questions about health insurance, payments and billing for medical services.

Patient Accounting is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you have any questions about your bill or need financial counseling, please contact our office at 518-828-8051. Our billing department can be reached via email at [email protected]. Please be sure to provide your account number, beginning with a “D” or “H,” and a detailed question.

Prompt Pay Discounts:

For uninsured patients, CMH is pleased to offer a substantial discount on medical bills, if paid in a timely manner. Please contact our billing number for more information 518-828-8051.

View important information about paying your bill at Columbia Memorial Hospital. (Hospital Disclosure PDF)

Columbia Memorial Health contracts with a number of outside physicians and physician groups such as anesthesiologists, radiologists and pathologists, to provide services at CMH and other locations.

Patients can contact these groups directly to find out which health plans they participate in. Patients may receive bills from these physicians or physician groups for services received while at CMH.

Some physician services you receive at a CMH facility may not be included in CMH’s billing charges and may not be covered by your health insurance provider. You should contact these physicians or physician groups directly to find out which health plans they participate in. Please see below for contact information for these physicians or physician groups and contact them directly to find out which health plans they participate in. Patients are also encouraged to check which health plans the physician arranging for CMH services accepts.

Affiliated Pathology Services, PC (APS)
If you have received any radiology services at Columbia Memorial Hospital, you could be receiving a bill from the doctor who read your test results. Please contact APS directly to discuss the bill at 518-786-1291 or 1-800-235-0045. The APS mailing address is: 47 New Scotland Ave., mc-80, Albany, NY 12208.

North American Partners In Anesthesia (NAPA)
If you are scheduled for surgery through our Gastroenterology Department, you may receive a bill from NAPA for anesthesia services. Please contact them in regards to your bill at 1-888-240-1793. NAPA’s mailing address is: Customer Service, PO Box 725, Melville, NY 11747.

Lab Corp
Some Lab Corp testing services may result in a bill. Please contact Lab Corp customer service at 800-845-6167 with bill-related questions. Lab Corp’s mailing address is: PO Box 224, Burlington, NC 27216-2240.

Emergency Medical Associates, PLLC
If you received Emergency Room services at Columbia Memorial Hospital, you could receive a bill from the Physician who treated you while you were in the ER. This is a separate bill from Columbia Memorial Hospital. Please contact EMA directly to discuss your Physician bill at 800-345-0064.

The Albany Med Health System understands that receiving medical care sometimes includes unexpected expenses. Assistance may be available through the Albany Med Health System Financial Assistance Program. Apply for the program online. Information on filling out a paper application to the program is below.

The program applies to all areas of the Albany Med Health System: Albany Medical Center Hospital, Albany Medical College, Columbia Memorial Health, Glens Falls Hospital and Saratoga Hospital. This includes professional services from employed providers of these facilities.

Eligibility is based on the federal income poverty guidelines and family size using a sliding scale.

Details on the Financial Assistance Program and a paper copy of the application can be found below in various languages.

Financial Aid Policy (English)
Financial Aid Application (English)
Financial Aid Policy (Spanish)
Financial Aid Application (Spanish)
Financial Aid Policy (Bengali)
Financial Aid Application (Bengali)

You may also contact a Financial Counselor for assistance at 518-828-8051 or [email protected].

Billing Department
Specialty Services Building
65 Prospect Ave.
Hudson, NY 12534

Office hours: Monday to Friday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For price estimation please email or call our billing department at 518-828-8051. View Albany Med Health System's pricing transparency page.

When you get emergency care or are treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, you are protected from balance billing. In these cases, you shouldn’t be charged more than your plan’s copayments, coinsurance and/or deductible.

View Columbia Memorial Hospital's No Surprises Act. (Disclosure PDF)

What is “balance billing” (sometimes called “surprise billing”)?

When you see a doctor or other health care provider, you may owe certain out-of-pocket costs, like a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible. You may have additional costs or have to pay the entire bill if you see a provider or visit a health care facility that isn’t in your health plan’s network.

“Out-of-network” means providers and facilities that haven’t signed a contract with your health plan to provide services. Out-of-network providers may be allowed to bill you for the difference between what your plan pays and the full amount charged for a service. This is called “balance billing.” This amount is likely more than in-network costs for the same service and might not count toward your plan’s deductible or annual out-of-pocket limit.

“Surprise billing” is an unexpected balance bill. This can happen when you can’t control who is involved in your care—like when you have an emergency or when you schedule a visit at an in- network facility but are unexpectedly treated by an out-of-network provider. Surprise medical bills could cost thousands of dollars depending on the procedure or service.

You’re protected from balance billing for:

Emergency services

If you have an emergency medical condition and get emergency services from an out-of-network provider or hospital, the most they can bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount (such as copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles). You can’t be balance billed for these emergency services. This includes services you may get after you’re in a stable condition, unless you give written consent and give up your protections not to be balanced billed for these post-stabilization services. If your insurance ID card says “fully insured coverage,” you can’t give written consent and give up your protections not to be balance billed for post-stabilization services.

Certain services at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center

When you get services from an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, certain providers there may be out-of-network. In these cases, the most those providers can bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount. This applies to emergency medicine, anesthesia, pathology, radiology, laboratory, neonatology, assistant surgeon, hospitalist, and intensivist services. These providers can’t balance bill you and may not ask you to give up your protections not to be balance billed.

If you get other types of services at these in-network facilities, out-of-network providers can’t balance bill you, unless you give written consent and give up your protections. If your insurance ID card says “fully insured coverage,” you can’t give up your protections for these other services if they are a surprise bill. Surprise bills are when you’re at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical facility and a participating doctor was not available, a non-participating doctor provided services without your knowledge, or unforeseen medical services were provided.

Services referred by your in-network doctor

If your insurance ID card says “fully insured coverage,” surprise bills include when your in-network doctor refers you to an out-of-network provider without your consent (including lab and pathology services). These providers can’t balance bill you and may not ask you to give up your protections not to be balance billed. You may need to sign a form (available on the Department of Financial Services’ website) for the full balance billing protection to apply.

You’re never required to give up your protections from balance billing. You also aren’t required to get out-of-network care. You can choose a provider or facility in your plan’s network.

When balance billing isn’t allowed, you also have these protections:

You’re only responsible for paying your share of the cost (like the copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles that you would pay if the provider or facility was in-network). Your health plan will pay any additional costs to out-of-network providers and facilities
Generally, your health plan must:
Cover emergency services without requiring you to get approval for services in advance (also known as “prior authorization”).
Cover emergency services by out-of-network
Base what you owe the provider or facility (cost-sharing) on what it would pay an in-network provider or facility and show that amount in your explanation of benefits.
Count any amount you pay for emergency services or out-of-network services toward your in-network deductible and out-of-pocket

If you think you’ve been wrongly billed and your coverage is subject to New York law (“fully insured coverage”), contact the New York State Department of Financial Services at (800) 342-3736 or [email protected]. Visit http://www.dfs.ny.gov for information about your rights under state law.

Contact CMS at 1-800-985-3059 for self-funded coverage or coverage bought outside New York. Visit http://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers for information about your rights under federal law.

If you have any additional questions, concerns, or if you think you have received a bill in error after January 1, 2022, please contact Columbia Memorial Hospital customer service at 518-828-8051 or email at [email protected].