Home/Cost & insurance
$200 a visit, and why we do not bill insurance.
This is the page most clinics hide. Ours is simple enough to say in one line: $200 for a scheduled visit, $300 if you need Dr. Tomlinson to open the clinic outside scheduled hours, nothing billed to insurance, and no bill arriving three weeks later.
The whole price list
| What it is | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled visit | $200 | Paid at the appointment. Days, evenings, or weekends — whatever fits your work and your family. |
| Unscheduled after-hours visit | $300 | Dr. Tomlinson comes in specifically for you, at any hour. Quoted to you before you leave the house. |
| Follow-up visits | $200 | Roughly every 28 days once you are stable — about thirteen visits in a year. |
| Membership or intake fee | None | There is no sign-up fee, no monthly membership, and no financing contract. |
| Your medication | Pharmacy pricing | Sent to your own pharmacy. Many patients use their insurance here, and for lab testing. |
Why we do not bill insurance
It would be easier to say “we accept most plans.” It would also cost you three things worth more than the convenience.
- Privacy that is actually private. Substance use treatment records carry two layers of federal protection, HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2. The strongest protection of all, though, is that no insurer ever receives a claim describing your care in the first place.
- No prior authorization between you and your first dose. Withdrawal does not pause for a payer to approve something. When the clinical decision is made in this room, it is made.
- A schedule that stays open. Insurance-driven volume fills a clinic with pharmacy stops. Ours stays small enough that one physician can treat every patient himself and still answer his own phone at 2 a.m.
What your insurance can still do
You are not giving up your coverage by coming here. Patients routinely use their insurance at the pharmacy for the buprenorphine itself, and for lab work. It is the office visit — the physician's time — that is cash-pay.
The comparison nobody puts on a website
Addiction bills you weekly in cash, and then it sends the real invoices. Set the $200 against what those invoices actually cost.
| One event | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| A nonfatal overdose, treated and released | Just under $2,900 for the emergency department visit |
| The same overdose, admitted | About $11,700 — roughly $20,500 with an ICU night |
| A first-offense DWI in Arkansas | Commonly five figures once attorney fees, fines, court costs, interlock and insurance increases are counted |
| An unscheduled 3 a.m. visit here instead | $300, and the thing that caused it gets treated |
| A full year of treatment here | About $2,600 — roughly thirteen visits with the same physician |
The emergency room stabilizes you and sends you home still addicted. That is not a criticism of emergency medicine; it is what an emergency department is for. It is also why an after-hours visit here costs a fraction of the alternative and does something the alternative cannot.
What the fee is really buying
A physician's undivided attention
The same doctor at every visit, who remembers where you were last month, rather than a number in a queue and whoever is on shift. Continuity is not a luxury in addiction medicine — it is the treatment.
Your own commitment, made visible
Paying for your own care changes how you show up to it. Patients who have invested something arrive on time, take the medication as prescribed, and do the work between visits. That is not a theory; it is what this waiting room looks like.
Who this clinic is not for
If you are looking for someone to hand over a prescription while nothing else changes, this is the wrong office, and Dr. Tomlinson will tell you so in the first five minutes. This is a treatment program. You will be asked to be honest, to keep your appointments, and to take part in your own recovery. In exchange you get a doctor who has done it himself and will not quit on you.
Questions about cost
What exactly does $200 cover?
The office visit itself: Dr. Tomlinson's evaluation, your treatment plan, and the prescription that comes out of it. Your medication is filled at your own pharmacy at pharmacy pricing, which is separate.
Why is an after-hours visit $300?
Because it is one physician leaving his home at an hour when every other clinic in Northwest Arkansas is dark, and opening a building for one patient. The extra $100 is what makes that possible. You are quoted it before you leave the house, never after.
Can I use my insurance for anything?
Yes — just not for the visit. Many patients use their insurance at the pharmacy for the medication itself, and for lab testing. It is the office visit that is cash-pay.
Why don't you bill insurance?
Three reasons, and all three favor the patient. Nothing about your treatment enters a payer's file. No prior authorization stands between you and your first dose. And the schedule stays open for patients who are here to get well, which is why there is a real appointment behind the phone when you call.
Is $200 worth it?
Add up what one week of using costs you, then compare it to one visit a month. Then add what a single DWI, one overdose, one lost job, or one custody hearing costs. For nearly every patient here, treatment is the cheapest line in the budget and the only one that pays anything back.
What if $200 is genuinely out of reach for me?
Call and say so. You will get an honest answer about whether this program fits your situation, and if it does not, a pointer toward other options in Northwest Arkansas. Nobody is going to waste your time.
Is there a membership, intake fee, or contract?
No. No membership, no intake fee, no financing agreement, and no sign-up that renews itself. You pay for a visit when you have a visit.
How many visits will I need in a year?
Once you are stable, roughly every 28 days — about thirteen visits a year. Early on Dr. Tomlinson may want to see you sooner while your dose is being adjusted.
Sources
- Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, opioid overdose cost fact sheet — https://health.mo.gov/data/opioids/pdf/missouri-opioids-fact-sheet-spring-2019.pdf
- Healthcare Financial Management Association, cost of care analysis — https://www.hfma.org/accounting-and-financial-reporting/cost-of-care/63299/
Ask what a visit costs. Ask anything.
Five minutes on the phone with the physician himself, at any hour, and you are not committing to treatment by calling.
Call 479-856-1505 — any hourIn a life-threatening emergency call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.