Frequently Asked Questions by Patients

Is it possible for my family doctor to receive a copy of my results? Simply inform the nurse at the time of your biopsy that you would like the results sent to your family doctor and we would be happy to send a copy of the pathology report to their office.   

How do I obtain a copy of my medical records to take to follow up appointments?   If you are scheduled to see a specialist we will forward all of the necessary material directly to your specialist’s office. Your records/slides will be sent out that day to ensure that your specialist has adequate time to review all of the material before your scheduled appointment. Please have your specialist fax (570-587-5531) the request with the patient information and where to send the slides/records and we will be happy to fedex the materials within a 24 hour period.    

Why did I receive a bill from my dermatologist/plastic surgeon and a bill from Northeast Dermatopathology Institute?   Your dermatologist/plastic surgeon is billing for the surgical removal (biopsy) of the tissue. Northeast Dermatopathology Institute is billing for the pathology work up on the tissue.   

Why did I receive a bill from Northeast Dermatopathology Institute when I was never at your facility?  You had a skin biopsy performed by a dermatologist/plastic surgeon. The biopsy was forwarded to our facility for pathology work up. Our bill is for the pathology services performed on that biopsy.    

Why did I receive a bill from your laboratory and an additional bill from another laboratory?   We perform routine stains as well as many immunoperoxidase and immunohistochemical stains in house. If your biopsy required testing that we do not perform, the test would be ordered and performed by a reference lab. The reference lab would then bill for the work that they performed and NDI would only bill for the stains that we performed.   

How do I begin sending work to Northeast Dermatopathology Institute? You may contact any one of our administrative staff at 570-586-4400 to set up service. We will obtain all of the practice demographics in order to print request slips with the referring physician information. Our courier will deliver a starter set of supplies including specimen containers, biopsy bags, request slips, etc. If you are outside of our courier area we will provide you with FedEx information to ship to us via FedEx at our expense.    

But what if I want to send a specimen today? You can download a blank request slip off our website or we can fax one to you. Package the specimen in a formalin container and call our office for a pick up or FedEx details.   

What type of specimens can be sent to Northeast Dermatopathology Institute? All forms of skin biopsies, cysts, benign tumors of subcutaneous tissue, oral biopsies and digital nails.    

What type of specimens can you accept from a podiatry practice? We can accept calluses, corns and plantar warts from a podiatry practice. Also, nail clippings can be sent to identify fungal infections.   

What if I’m not sure if the specimen is appropriate for your lab? When in doubt, simply call our office at 570-586-4400. Our physicians and lab personnel are always available to take your call.   

I have a family medicine practice and only have a few specimens per month. Can I still use your lab? Most definitely, no practice is too small to utilize our services. We will set you up with supplies like any other referring office and simply call when you have a pick up.   

If we have a biopsy for Immunofluorescence studies, what needs to be done?  The biopsy must be placed in Zeuss transport media. After the biopsy is taken it should be placed in the refrigerator until our courier arrives for your scheduled pickup. As long as the specimen is refrigerated it will keep even if the biopsy is scheduled late in the evening and the pickup isn’t scheduled until the next morning.    

How will I receive my Pathology Reports? You can have your reports faxed, hard copy delivered, or retrieved from our web portal.   

How do I order Supplies? You can call our office and we will have them delivered on your next courier visit. We also have supply forms that we provide which you can fax to our office. A supply form can be downloaded off our forms link.   

What insurances do you accept? We accept all commercial insurances. In the event we encounter a new insurance company that we are not participating with we will not penalize the patient and apply to that company for par status for the future.     

Am I in your courier service area? Our courier service covers the greater Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton Areas as well as the Poconos and Stroudsburg.    

How do I ship specimens to you if I am out of your courier service area? We accept specimens outside of our courier area via FedEx. We will provide you with FedEx specimen bags and preprinted labels. It’s as simple as preparing the specimen in the usual fashion, placing the package in a FedEx specimen bag and placing a sticker on the bag. The FedEx charges are billed directly to our lab. We know how busy your office staff is and every effort has been made to simplify the shipping process.   

How do I request slides to be sent to a specialist follow up appointments?   If your patient is scheduled to see a specialist we will forward all of the necessary material directly to their specialist’s office. Their records will be sent out that day to ensure that their specialist has adequate time to review all of the material before their scheduled appointment. Simply fax over the request with the patient information along with the specialists name and address and we will be very happy to expedite the materials.