Insurance plans accepted: how to write your practice's page

Key takeaways

• List each plan by insurance company, plan name and plan type. One plan type is a PPO (preferred provider organization) plan. Add a “last checked” date.
• Say “in network” and “out of network”. In network means the practice has a contract with the patient’s plan. “Accepted” on its own leaves patients guessing.
• Ask patients to check coverage with their plan and to bring their insurance card. Never collect insurance details through the website.
• Give self-pay patients the Good Faith Estimate notice. Give them a clear way to reach the front desk, too.
• Give the list one owner. Keep the website and the health plans’ provider directories in step with it. Do the same for the Google Business Profile (the practice’s listing on Google) if it shows insurance.

What should an insurance page include?

It needs six things. Each one answers a question the front desk would otherwise get by phone:

• the plans the practice is in network with
• the date the list was last checked
• a line asking patients to check their coverage
• a Medicare line
• an out-of-network line
• a self-pay line with the Good Faith Estimate notice

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has guidance on practice marketing. It lists the patient information a practice website should outline. That list includes accepted insurances, co-payment expectations and acceptable forms of payment.

A clear insurance page won’t stop every mix-up. But it lets the patient check before the visit, not after the bill.

“Accepted” or “in network”: which words should you use?

Use “in network” and “out of network”. They tell the patient exactly where they stand. “Accepted” is vague. It doesn’t say whether the practice has a contract with the patient’s plan.

Avoid a line such as “most insurance accepted”. The patient can’t check it. So the question goes straight to the phone.

Why list plan names, not only the insurance company?

One insurance company sells many plans. A practice can be in network for only some of them. A logo or company name shows the practice has some link with that company. It doesn’t show that the patient’s plan is covered.

Here is an illustrative example with a fictional insurance company. Example Health sells PPO, HMO and EPO plans. The practice is in network for the PPO plans only. Say the page shows the Example Health logo. A patient on an Example Health HMO plan reads it as a yes and books. Now picture a line that says “Example Health: PPO plans, in network. HMO and EPO plans, not in network.” It answers the question before they call.

How should the page ask patients to check their coverage?

Tell patients to call the member services number on their insurance card before the first visit. Ask them to bring the card with them. The website should ask for nothing else.

Checking coverage takes real phone time. The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) ran a Stat poll on March 10, 2026. Practice leaders named the phone tasks that take their staff the most time. Eligibility and prior authorization (getting the plan’s approval before care) came first, at 45% of 294 applicable responses.

Here is how that step worked in the practices I saw. A patient called to schedule, and the visit was created. If the patient gave their insurance details, they were entered. If not, the eligibility and verification team looked at the practice’s past records for that patient. If they found insurance on file, they checked it. If it was active, they added it as active. If no active insurance was found, the visit was tagged as patient pay, or self-pay.

Other times, the front desk took the insurance details at booking. They sent the case to the eligibility and benefits verification team. Then normal billing followed.

None of those details belong on a website form. A practice website shouldn’t collect patient information. So the page shouldn’t ask for member IDs or plan details. Ask patients to bring their insurance card to the first visit instead.

What should the page say about Medicare?

Say plainly whether the practice’s clinicians accept Medicare assignment.

Medicare.gov has a page on whether your provider accepts Medicare. It explains the term. A provider may accept the Medicare-approved amount as payment in full for a covered service. That is called “accepting assignment”. The page tells patients to check that their providers do. A one-line answer on your insurance page saves them the call. If assignment differs between clinicians, name each clinician.

What should the page say to out-of-network and self-pay patients?

Tell out-of-network patients that the practice isn’t in their network. Tell them to ask their plan what they’d pay. Give self-pay patients the Good Faith Estimate notice and the front desk’s phone number.

HealthCare.gov has a definition of balance billing. Balance billing is when a provider bills the patient for the difference between its charge and the allowed amount. The same page notes that a preferred provider may not balance bill for covered services. HealthCare.gov’s preferred provider definition explains the term. A preferred provider has a contract with the patient’s plan to give services at a discount.

If your practice sees out-of-network patients, say so. Then point them to their plan to find out what they would owe.

Self-pay patients need their own line. The No Surprises Act has rules for this, as CMS’s summary of provider responsibilities explains. Providers must tell uninsured or self-pay people about their right to a good faith estimate of expected charges. That information must be easy to see, and easily searchable from a public search engine. It must be on the provider’s website and in the office. It must also be on-site where scheduling or questions about cost happen.

The CMS notice guidance adds two points. Self-pay includes patients who have insurance but choose not to use it. And the notice must be easy to find on the provider’s website.

This is general information, not legal advice.

How do you keep the list up to date?

Give the list one owner inside the practice. Review it whenever a contract changes. Date every update. The website should change only when that owner says so.

In the practices I saw on the revenue cycle side, the practice manager knew when a plan changed. So did the person working in credentialing (getting providers approved to join health plans). Others didn’t have that information. That’s why I can’t update the plan list on my own when I build a site. I need an authorized list from the practice.

A simple routine:

1. Name the owner. For example, the practice manager, working with whoever handles credentialing.
2. Review on every change. A contract starts or ends, a plan is dropped, or a new provider joins.
3. Update the date. Change “Last checked” every time the list is reviewed, even if nothing changed.
4. Update everywhere at once. These should all say the same thing: the website, the health plans’ provider directories, the front-desk script and, if it shows insurance, the Google Business Profile.

Where else do patients look for this information?

Two other places can show this information. One is the provider directories that health plans publish. These are the plans’ lists of providers. The other is Google search. Both should match the website.

Provider directories carry weight. The No Surprises Act has rules for them too, as CMS’s summary of provider responsibilities explains. Providers must maintain business processes to send provider directory information to health plans and issuers (insurance companies).

The same summary covers wrong directory listings. Say a patient gets out-of-network care because of wrong provider directory information. Then the out-of-network provider must bill at in-network cost-sharing levels. HealthCare.gov defines cost-sharing as the share of covered costs the patient pays out of pocket. Examples are deductibles, coinsurance and copayments.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Google search is the other place. In December 2021, Google posted its announcement on healthcare information in Search. It said people searching for a specific provider could check which insurance networks the provider might accept. It also said providers could update their information by claiming and updating their Google Business Profile. Search features change. So look up your own practice and check what shows today. If your Business Profile shows insurance information, make it match your list.

A template you can copy

Replace each item in square brackets. Delete any line that doesn’t apply to your practice.

Insurance and payment

Last checked: [date]

Plans [Practice name] is in network with

• [Insurance company]: [Plan name] ([plan type, such as PPO])
• [Insurance company]: [Plan name] ([plan type])

[Practice name] is not in network with [Insurance company] [plan type] plans. If your plan isn’t listed, call the front desk at [phone] before you book.

Check your coverage. Before your first visit, call the member services number on your insurance card. Ask whether [clinician] at [Practice name] is in network for your plan. Please bring your insurance card to your first visit.

Medicare. [Clinician] [accepts / does not accept] Medicare assignment.

Out of network. [Your out-of-network policy.] Ask your plan what your share of the cost would be with an out-of-network provider.

Paying for care yourself. [Link to your Good Faith Estimate notice.] For questions about cost, call the front desk at [phone].

Please don’t send insurance or health details by email or through a web form.

Next step

Read your insurance page the way a new patient would. Then compare it with the list your practice manager keeps. Would you like a second pair of eyes? Ask for a free presence review of your practice’s website. Your insurance page can be checked as part of it.

Are you planning a new practice website? It includes click-to-call and a link to your existing online scheduling if you have one. The starting prices on the pricing page show it from $2,499.