The Telephone
Telephone messages are handled on a priority basis. Routine care questions will be answered at the end of the day. Your phone messages will be answered by the doctor or his nurse. All phone messages are reviewed by the doctor at the end of the day. Every effort is made to answer all messages the same day.

Medical Confidentiality
Your Children's records are held in strictest confidence and cannot be released without your written consent. This is to protect your children's personal medical information from unauthorized inquiry. Immunization records will not be given over the phone.

Appointments
Time for acute care visits is left open in the doctor's schedule every day. Call AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE to schedule a visit for your ill child. For an appointment, tell the receptionist the nature of the problem, which will allow her to schedule the appropriate amount of time and she can also consult the doctor if necessary. We will make every effort to arrange an appointment time satisfactory to your concerns. "Well" visit appointments should be made as much in advance as possible.

Patients are seen by appointment only. Walk-in patients will only be seen if the doctor's schedule permits it.

Because of the nature of our business, occasionally your doctor may be out of the office for an emergency. We will contact you as soon as possible and work out a satisfactory arrangement for your appointment.

All well visits are made with your physician except when a parent's time constraints prohibits this. Every effort is made to have your child see his or her doctor when he or she is ill.

Emergencies & After Hours
In case of an emergency with your child, contact our office. If it is after hours, your call will be forwarded to our answering service which will reach the pediatrician on call. If the emergency is of a nature that demands immediate treatment, proceed to the emergency room at the nearest hospital. The hospital will inform us of your visit.

We do provide 24 hour coverage. After hours, a call to our office will be forwarded to our answering service. The answering service will then reach us. If you do not receive a return call in 20 minutes, please call again.

Fees & Billing
Our office policy is that payment is required at time of service unless previous arrangements are made in advance with our office manager. Please remember that this policy allows us to keep your cost of billing and bookkeeping to a minimum. We will furnish you with a copy of an itemized receipt which can be submitted to your insurance company.

If billing is required, our statements are rendered on a monthly basis. If you cannot pay your balance during a particular month, please contact our business office to make special arrangements for payment. If a second or additional billing is required, a billing charge may be added to each additional statement.