Office Polices:

Appointment Scheduling

We see patients by appointment only. However, same day appointments are usually available. It is important that you call first to schedule an appointment when you feel it is necessary that you be seen promptly. This allows us to schedule patients so that each person has adequate time with the physician. Accepting 'walk-in' patients affects the overall patient flow and increases everbodys wait time. We look forward to hearing from you!

Cancelling Appointments / Missed Appointments

We request a minimum of 24 hours advance notice for appointment cancellations. It is often the case that cancelled appointment times are used to work in sick patients to be seen on the same day that they call or to move another patient's appointment to a more convenient time for them.

Patient Responsibilities

To provide you with the best service, please call for an appointment. Please bring your insurance card, co-pay (as applicable), and medications to all appointments. Please provide us with updated information regarding your insurance, address, and telephone numbers to make it easier to treat and to contact you as necessary. You can obtain change of information forms from our front desk personnel or from the website.

Test Results

Our office staff will notify you of all normal test results as quickly as possible. Notification of test results is done in the manner requested by each individual patient (via phone, fax, or mail). If you wish to obtain lab results, call the office during regular business hours and speak with your physician's medical assistant. In the case of abnormal labs, you will be contacted and asked to make a follow-up appointment with your physician for counseling and treatment options. Pending the severity of your results, you will be given the first available appointment.

Urgent Calls

One of our physicians is on call at all times. For urgent medical problems, call the office immediately. Our office front desk staff is trained to evaluate your problem and decide which cases need same day evaluation or if physician- directed telephone management would be appropriate. During scheduled office hours, provide your name and a description of the urgent problem to the scheduling person or the physician's medical assistant.

After Hour Care

As stated above, one of our physicians is on call at all times for the patients of the practice. Only urgent problems will be addressed after hours. Therefore, we request that you follow our practice guidelines for prescription refills and other telephone calls as per our policy and our voice message system instructions. If you have an urgent issue, please follow the directions given by the voice message system. Remember to give your name, phone number, and a description of your situation. The on call physician will contact you within 30 minutes of your call.

Prescription Refill

Prescription refills over the phone are done for established patients only. We must have a chart on a patient in our office to call in any form of medication for him/her. Please make refill requests at least 48 hours in advance. This allows us to pull and review your chart and, thus, helps to ensure your safety, protection and continuity of care in medication use.

You can leave a message on the answering service with use of the appropriate prompt for the designated mail box. Please say your name, spell the last and the first name and give the middle initial; give the name and the spelling of the medication you are requesting a refill of, the dosage, the number of times taken during the day, the quantity previously given and the last fill date; and most importantly, the name and the phone number of the pharmacy you want the prescription called in to pending the physician's approval of the request. Please do not wait until the last day of your supply of medication to call the office and request a refill.

Vaccinations

Vaccinations are provided during well child exams and adult female and male physical exams. Most vaccinations are covered in the majority of health plans, but some of them such as influenza are not. In the case of such vaccines, the patient must pay out of pocket for the requested vaccination. Patients can schedule a nurse visit just for the vaccination administration and only have to incur the cost of the vaccination and not have to pay a co-pay as well.