Office Policies and
Procedures
Telephone
Calls
General and Medical
Questions: First and foremost, we strive to be responsive.
You are encouraged to call us with any questions or
concerns you may have. For the best results, unless it is
an emergency, please contact us during normal office hours
when your records are readily accessible.
Our office staff has a great deal of knowledge and
experience. Calls for physicians will usually be directed
to the nursing staff. Please fully explain the problem to
the nurse, who will relay the message to the doctor and
return the response to you. Our nurses are well-educated
regarding health issues and often can provide you with the
answers you need. If your question or problem is outside
their scope, a message will be relayed to one of our
doctors who will return your call as soon as possible.
Please inform the telephone representative of the best time
and number to reach you, or if there are times when you are
unavailable.
When you call the office, the receptionist usually answers
the phone. She will either schedule an appointment or
channel your call to the person with whom you wish to
speak. If a physician or nurse is busy with a patient, the
receptionist will take your call and relay your message.
Your call will be returned later in the day and sometimes
this may be after office hours.
Emergency Calls: Urgent or emergency calls are accepted at
all hours. In case of an
emergency after hours, our answering service will answer
your call and will promptly notify the physician on call,
who will contact you as soon as possible. All
physicians in this practice alternate night calls and
weekend duty. 911 should be
used for life-threatening emergencies.
New Prescriptions and Refills: If you
suspect your doctor may need to prescribe a medication for
you, or you need an existing order filled, please call during office hours when your
medical records are readily available. When calling,
please have your pharmacy's
phone number handy. In some cases, the doctor may
wish to see you in the office before refilling the
prescription. Prescription refill requests will only be
handled during office hours when patient medical records
are readily available. Only prescriptions for emergency
conditions will be provided after regular office hours.
Test Results: “No news is good
news” is NOT the philosophy in our office. You are
an important member of your health care team and as such is
your responsibility to notify our office that you have had
either blood work, CT scans, biopsies, or x-rays done 3
days after the event so we can then look for the results.
Release of Information: We treat all medical information
pertaining to each patient seen in our office to be
personal and confidential. It is our strict policy not to
release your records, in part or in full, at any time
unless we have written permission from you. This policy is
enforced regardless of the circumstances. Therefore, we
require a signed “Release of Information” form by every
patient before we will copy any information contained
within your medical chart to any third party, including but
not limited to, other physicians, insurance companies,
and/or an attorney. Remember, when you sign a release for
an insurance company, you give them access to all
information contained in our medical records unless you
restrict the information to be released.
Insurance, Fees, and
Billing
Click here to read more information.
Quality Care and
Service
Your Satisfaction: The patient-physician relationship is
unique. It implies mutual trust, openness, and
responsibility. Your well-being is extremely important to
us. We will always strive to maintain your confidence in
us. Please contact us with questions or
comments.