FAQ
Office and Scheduling
In most cases, you can contact our office directly to schedule a consultation. However, some insurance providers may require a referral—check with your plan for details.
You will see Dr. Phillips at every visit. Every time.
Dr. Phillips is a solo-practice neurosurgeon and does not use a PA or NP to evaluate or manage his patients. Your visits, treatment decisions, and follow-up care are handled personally by Dr. Phillips.
Please bring your insurance card and payment for any copay or coinsurance.
You do not need to bring other medical records. We will obtain electronic copies of anything needed
Please arrive ON TIME
Please DO NOT ARRIVE EARLY
You do not need to arrive early because we have no waiting, no clipboard, and the entire check-in process is completed by Dr. Phillips at the time of your scheduled appointment.
Appointments are “by appointment only,” so the doors may be locked before your arrival.
We take nearly every insurance except:
- Medicaid as Primary Insurance
- Tricare as Primary Insurance
We accept Medicaid if it is a Secondary Insurance
We accept Tricare For Life as a Secondary Insurance
We are not in-network with any Worker’s Compensation, but we will accept Workers Compensation if properly authorized by them.
Dr. Phillips will see patients involved in personal imjury if properly authorized by the attorney’s office.
About Doctor Phillips
Because understanding whether surgery is even an option—and what surgery can and cannot realistically accomplish—can be therapeutic in itself. A clear diagnosis and explanation can reduce uncertainty, change how you interpret your symptoms, and help you make better decisions about what to do next. Seeing a spine surgeon does not mean you are committing to surgery.
It means Dr. Phillips believes there is a clear structural problem that matches your symptoms and that surgery is a good treatment option—not simply something else to try. He does not recommend surgery just because an MRI looks abnormal or because other treatments have failed.
No surgery comes with a guaranteed result, but if Dr. Phillips puts surgery on the table, he believes there is a sound reason to expect it to address the problem for which it is being offered.
Absolutely. If a plumber told you that you needed a major repair, you would probably get a second quote before tearing into the house. A recommendation for spine surgery deserves at least the same consideration.
Dr. Phillips can review your symptoms, examination, and imaging independently and help you understand whether surgery is even an option, what it is intended to accomplish, and what reasonable alternatives exist. A second opinion does not mean the first opinion was wrong—it gives you another perspective before making an important decision.
No.
Dr. Phillips is a neursurgeon whose primary purpose is to assess patients with problems of the nervous system to determine if surgery is a appropriate option.
Unlike most spine surgeons, he stays with he patient regardless of whether or not surgery is an option–this is the reason he is sometimes confused as a “pain management” doctor.
Dr. Phillips helps patients find ways to Reduce and Recover from pain so that there is nothing left to “manage.”
Modern pain science recognizes that persistent pain is not always explained by ongoing tissue damage or a structural problem seen on imaging. The nervous system itself can become sensitized and learn patterns that continue to produce or amplify symptoms.
That is where neuroplasticity comes in. The nervous system can change—and because it can change in one direction, it can also change in another. Treatments such as pain education and Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) use that capacity for change to help reduce persistent symptoms.
This does not mean the pain is imagined or “all in your head.” It means the nervous system is part of the problem—and sometimes part of the solution.
Learn more in our “About Neuroplasticity” menu
Images and Other Providers
No.
Dr. Phillips will determine the need for imaging and/or obtain prior imaging before your arrival
Durring you registration, please let us know if images have already been performed and/or where they were done.
No.
Dr. Phillips will obatin your images before you come.
In rare cases, such as when images were performed out of town, we will ask the facility to main the disc so that patients do not need to pick up or hand-carry disc to the office