WELCOME TO OUR PRACTICE

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1 Below is a template for the practice section of the pediatric guidebook. Our goal is for this to be as thorough and detailed as possible, so that your patients have a good understanding of how your practice operates and can easily find information about the practice when they need it. Our hope is that arming them with information and setting expectations appropriately will cut down on the number of unnecessary or after-hours calls to the practice, as well as make the necessary calls more efficient. Please read through this template and fill in the blanks with your practice s information. The red font indicates things we felt were most likely to be very different across the practices, but we wanted to keep a place holder in to make sure that this, or similar information, wasn t inadvertently left out. Blue font is notes/questions for you. You are more than welcome to make any changes throughout this section of the guide is for YOU and your patients! WELCOME TO OUR PRACTICE Welcome to (your practice name)! Thank you for choosing us to be part of your child s healthcare team. You are your child s most important caregiver, and we look forward to working with you to make sure your child stays healthy and happy as he grows. Our practice provides children of all ages with personalized primary care, preventive and health maintenance care, and specialty pediatric services. We encourage regular well child visits for healthy children. We also fully coordinate care for children with disabilities, chronic illness, and other complex medical conditions. We hope that the information provided here will answer many of the questions you may have about our practice. Location and Directions Our office is located. Directions by car, train, subway, and bus are available at Mass General s website: Phone: Fax: Billing:

2 Regular Office Hours Our regular office hours are AM to PM, Monday through Friday. Please call during these hours for all routine matters such as appointments, prescription refills, referrals, and health forms. Evening and/or weekend hours? Anything special about urgent after-hours visits (such as Saturday appts for urgent appts only)? After Hours Services Medical services are available to our patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for emergencies and urgent health concerns. If your child is sick or has a medical problem and you are not sure it can wait until regular office hours, please call us at any time for advice. Even when we are closed, you should call our office at. When you call after regular office hours, you will be connected with the Nurse Partners Pediatric Telephone Triage Program, which provides after-hours nursing triage. The nurse can answer any questions you have and will tell you what to do if your child needs to be seen immediately. A doctor is always on call if the nurse has any questions or needs assistance. Appointments Scheduling Routine Appointments To schedule a routine well child appointment or a follow-up visit, please call at least one month in advance. One of our front desk staff members will assist you. (any particular information they will need ready such as blue card number?) Sick Child Appointments If you call during office hours because your child is sick or has an urgent medical problem, you will be transferred to the nurse triage voic . Please leave a detailed message, including: Your child s name and date of birth Your name Your phone number Information about your child s medical problem A nurse will return your call within minutes (hours?), and work with you to figure out what might be wrong with your child. If your child does not need to be seen in the office, the nurse will tell you how to help your child at home. If you and the nurse determine that your child needs to be seen by a nurse or doctor, we will do our best to schedule an appointment for that same day. Appointment Policies

3 Please arrive minutes early for your appointment. There may be paperwork or other administrative items that need to be taken care of before your appointment. If patients arrive late we are unable to keep our schedule during the course of the day. Patients who are more than minutes late may be required to reschedule their appointments. If you are going to be late, please call us so we can try to rearrange our schedule. Every effort will be made to accommodate you. We always try to schedule sick visits the same day they are requested. Because of this, there may be occasional delays when emergencies arise or there are more urgent care visits than usual. We apologize for any delays you may experience as a result of this and appreciate your understanding. Telephone Calls During Office Hours When calling our office, always call the same number:. You will get a menu of options to direct you to the most appropriate person for your needs. Please call the office during regular office hours for routine matters such as appointments, prescription refills, laboratory reports, and school or vaccine forms. We are not able to accommodate routine requests when our office is closed. Prescription Refills The best way to get prescriptions refilled is to have your pharmacy fax the request to our office at. You can also call us during regular office hours. If you call, you will be asked to leave a message with the following information: Your child's name Your child s date of birth Your name Your child s MGH Blue Card number Your telephone number The name and dosage of your child's medication The name and telephone number of the pharmacy you would like to use. Please allow hours (days?) for us to refill the prescription. Unless you hear from us, you can assume that your prescription refill request has been processed. We will contact you only if there is a problem or we have a question about your prescription refill request. Please remember that refills can only be given to patients who have been seen within the past year. If your child has not been seen for more than a year, you will need to schedule an appointment. After office hours, urgent refills will be handled by the doctor on call. Referrals Your child s primary care doctor will assist you in coordinating all of your child's medical care, including referrals to specialists. If your insurance requires a referral to be sent for billing purposes, please call us at and select the option for referrals. You will need to leave a message with the following information: Your child s name Your child s date of birth

4 The name and phone number of the specialist your child needs to see The date of the specialist appointment (if you have already scheduled it). Unless you hear from us, you can assume that your referral request has been processed. We will contact you only if there is a problem or we have a question about your referral request. Health Forms If you need a health form for school, daycare or camp, please call us during regular office hours. You will need to leave a message with the following information so that we can process your request: Your child s name Your child s date of birth Blue card number Your telephone number Where you would like the form to be faxed or mailed. Please allow business days for processing. Laboratory Test Results Results from your child s laboratory tests will be mailed to you in to weeks. If you have not received your results within four weeks, please call our office. If your child's test results indicate immediate follow-up care is needed, you will be notified by telephone as soon as the results are available. (Note: We will want to make sure this is accurate and also consistent across the entire practice; that is, all docs do it the same within a practice. Alternatively, this should be written very vaguely so we do not give wrong information.) Insurance and Billing Please make any required payments or co-payments at the time of your visit. We accept cash, personal checks, and most major credit cards (list cards that are accepted?). If you have questions regarding your bill, please call our practice manager at. We accept most major insurance carriers and managed healthcare plans. Please confirm that we accept your healthcare plan before your first visit or if you change insurance carriers. If your plan requires you to choose a primary care physician for your child, please be sure to name your (name of practice) doctor. Staff We have a large group of very qualified staff who pride themselves on working with you to provide the best care possible for your child. Our team is organized to make your experience working with us the best it can be. Medical Doctors (?)

5 Description of role (list doctors ) Medical Residents Residents are doctors who have recently graduated from medical school and practice under the supervision of more senior doctors. They are in a three-year training program. When you see a resident, you will also see the senior doctor who is supervising him or her. Nurses Our nurses play an important role in the care we provide to you. They provide medical care, advice, and support, both on the phone and in the office. Our nurses also administer vaccines at your child s routine well child visits. Medical Assistants Our Medical Assistants keep patients flowing through our practice. They will bring you and your child into the exam room to take necessary vital signs (?is this right?) and measurements, such as your child s weight and height. They will then move you to the doctor s exam room or back to the waiting room until the doctor is ready to see your child. (Note: should consider turn-over when deciding to name or not name them) Patient Service Coordinators / Front Desk Staff Our patient service coordinators are your initial point of contact to the practice. They greet, check in and check out patients. They help with all of your scheduling needs and coordinate paperwork and forms, such as school forms. They also answer and direct phone calls, and they will assist you in any way possible. Administrative Staff Our administrative staff members keep our office organized and efficient. They manage all business aspects of the practice so that the providers can devote their full attention to medical care of our patients. (Other possible people to include: depending on practice, etc ) Lactation Consultant Our lactation consultant is available to assist you and your baby with any questions or problems you may be experiencing with breast-feeding. She is available by appointment?

6 Social Worker Description Nutritionist Our nutritionist provides nutritional counseling for our patients. She is working as part of our focus to improve the overall nutrition of overweight and obese children, as well as patients who have other dietary and nutritional needs. Billing Staff Our billing staff is responsible for all insurance and patient billing and collections within the office. They will be able to assist you with any problems or concerns.