If you haven’t noticed already, this clinic is set up differently than a traditional medical office. There is no receptionist, medical assistant or billing specialist. Having no additional staff means you will have more direct and personal contact with me regarding all aspects of your health care, which I believe will give us both enormous satisfaction. It also means that you and I will become partners in getting you the best possible health care, which sometimes means helping each other with administrative and paperwork issues that may come up. As a result, some of the clinic policies may be a bit different from what you’re used to. Please read below about the policies specific to this clinic. If you have questions about anything, please contact me directly.
Office Hours
The office will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9-5. Lunch is typically 12-1pm, but it might shift daily based on the scheduling needs of my patients. Office, video or home visits on non-business days (Tuesdays, Thursdays, weekends and holidays) may be available by prior arrangement.
Appointment Scheduling
If you are a new patient, please call the office at 888-480-1115 or email me and leave a message. I will get back to you shortly to discuss the wait list and the process for scheduling your initial visit.
If you are an established patient and would like to schedule an appointment, call the office at 888-480-1115 or send an email and leave me a message stating what the appointment is for and how soon you would like to be seen. On the message, leave a few dates and times (on MWF) that would work for you. I will get back to you by the next business day, and often quite a bit sooner. If the issue is pressing and you feel you need to be seen promptly, feel free to call me on my personal cell, as described under the Phone section below.
Parking/Transport
The clinic is located at 1235 SE Division at the corner of 12th avenue. It is a dark green building behind the Double Dragon Café. The entrance to the building is located to the right of the café. Non-metered street parking is available for your use. There is parking in Ladd’s addition on Elliot, and both curb lanes of Division are available for parking as long as it is not rush hour (see posted signs). Bike parking is available at the entry.
Waiting Room
Technically, there is no “waiting room” since there should be no waiting. I schedule patients far enough apart so that one patient visit is finished before the next one begins, and you will be seen on time. If you arrive early or while I’m still with a patient, my office door will closed. In these cases, feel free to take a seat in the atrium of the building or grab a beverage at Double Dragon Café out front. When you see my door is open, please come in. If my door remains closed despite it being time for your appointment, please knock. It will alert me that you’ve arrived and will prompt me to finish up quickly.
Annual Membership Dues
Modest membership dues allow me to continue to provide insightful and individualized care in a relaxing environment. They allow me to book only one patient at a time, and visit slots are long enough to educate you about your health and answer your questions. Dues allow me to space patient visits with some wiggle room between them. This means I can stay on time, and I won’t be wasting your time and you won’t be sitting in a germy waiting room. Finally, dues allow me to provide unparalleled email and after hours personal cell phone access 24/7. Annual dues are $250 per person ($125 if joining after June 30th); dependent children 26 and under are $50 each (with a full dues paying adult). Payment will be due by January 31st each year; a statement will be emailed around the New Year with payment details. If you ever leave the practice, your paid membership fee will be refunded on a prorated quarterly basis, minus a $15 administrative charge. If these dues are a financial hardship for you, by all means contact me directly to discuss your situation. We can always arrange a payment plan, and limited scholarships or trades may be available. Are you in a position to help others? Consider donating a bit extra to be put toward scholarships. Just be sure to note that on your check, and thanks so much!
Late Policy
My office runs on time, so please don’t plan to be late. Of course, sometimes situations arise that cause you to run late. If you do show up late, we will discuss your options. If we feel there is enough time, we may decide to proceed with your visit. Depending on the timing, this may need to be a shorter appointment than you would have had otherwise, and we may need to limit ourselves to discussing only your most pressing issue. Alternatively, we may decide we need to reschedule for a different day. If this happens, you will be charged the $75 late-cancellation fee.
Cancellation/No Show Fee
Your appointment slot is long (typically 20-80 minutes depending on appointment type). Although we often don’t use the entire time slot for you appointment, this time is reserved for you and no one else. It is your responsibility to keep record of your appointments. If you need to cancel an appointment, including a video appointment, please call or email me at least 24 hours prior to your appointment. This will allow me to offer your slot to another patient. If you do not notify me at least 24 hours beforehand, you will be charged a $75 cancellation/no show fee.
Email can be a convenient way for us to communicate non-urgent messages, such as appointment requests, normal lab results, or billing issues. Although I generally respond to emails within a few hours, please allow up to one business day for a response to your email. If you have an urgent medical need, please call my cell phone rather than email. Please keep in mind that email is not a substitute for an office visit. Your questions should be no more than 3-5 lines long. If reading and responding to your email takes more than 5 minutes, you will be asked to set up a formal visit in person or via video to properly address your health concerns.
Phone
I am the only one answering the phones for my office. Therefore, you can expect a response directly from me. For the vast majority of your concerns, including appointment scheduling, billing issues, or health questions, please leave a message on my main office line at 888-480-1115. I will be checking these messages regularly and will get back to you no later than the next business day. Please do not text me as my office protocols are not set up to deal with texted messages securely or competently.
There may be times when you have an urgent health issue and require immediate assistance or advice from me. In these situations I encourage you to call my personal cell phone, where you can reach me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can find the number by calling the main office line at 888-480-1115; the recording will provide the number. Please don’t record my cell number in your address book. I’ve found this leads to confusion and routine calls going to my cell phone (sometimes disturbing me and my family from sleep!) Just know the number is always available when you call my main office line. If you call me urgently, please keep your phone at the ready so I can reach you. Typical response time is less than 30-60 minutes. If I don’t respond in that time-frame (sometimes I take my kids to the pool or attend a 90 minute yoga class), please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Please use this privilege appropriately.
For a life-threatening emergency, always call 911 immediately.
There may be rare times when I will not be able to return your urgent call to my cell phone promptly (such as my cell phone battery dying unexpectedly) and what was an urgent situation becomes an emergent situation. In these cases, please don’t delay in seeking emergent care or calling 911.
Vacations
There will be times when I will be out of town or otherwise unreachable. Dates of upcoming vacation plans will be posted on the home page of my website. If you have an urgent health question or need to be seen while I’m away, email or call my main office line. The message/auto-responder will put you in touch with a physician colleague of mine who can assist you.
Hospitalizations
I hope you will never need to be hospitalized. However, I’ve made arrangements with Legacy Hospitals (Good Samaritan, Emanuel, and Meridian Park) to take care of you should you be hospitalized. Their team of hospitalist physicians (specialists in the care of hospitalized patients) will communicate closely with me about your health issues and the outcomes of your hospitalization. If your insurance requires you to be hospitalized elsewhere, I will strive to obtain all of the information and results of your hospital stay. Please tell the hospital that I am your primary care physician so they can update me with all important information. Also, within a day or two of your discharge, please call me so we can discuss your situation and how soon you need to be seen.
Refills
Refilling prescriptions consumes a surprisingly large portion of staff time in a standard medical office. As I operate this clinic without staff, I have found it difficult to attend to a flood of refill requests . When I write a prescription, I will give you enough refills to last at least until your next scheduled office visit. If your refills are running low, it likely means it is time to schedule your follow up appointment! For medications that aren’t used every day of the year, like allergy or headache medications, please try to be mindful and anticipate future refill needs during your current appointment. If all else fails and you end up needing an emergency refill outside of an office visit, email or call my main office line with the drug name and dosage as well as the pharmacy phone number, and I will be in touch shortly. There may be a $15 charge associated with refills outside of office visits.
Please do NOT have your pharmacy contact me for refills. Refill requests are often auto-generated at the pharmacy or are simply incorrect, so I ignore them. You must contact me personally if you need an emergency refill outside of an office visit.
Narcotic/Scheduled Medications
I rarely believe it is in the best interest of my patients to rely on chronic narcotics or sedatives, and I do not prescribe them. I may prescribe them for a short period of time for acute needs on a case by case basis. By law, these cannot be refilled over the phone.
Termination of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
You may terminate our relationship at any time for any reason. I would appreciate communication from you expressing your desire for termination, but it is not required. Likewise, I may terminate our relationship at any time. Generally, I will reserve this measure for patients who are not abiding by the stated policies, are delinquent in paying bills, or are disrespectful to me, my clinic, or their own health. If I choose to terminate our relationship, I will notify you in writing. You will then have 30 days to find a new physician, during which time I will be available to you for urgent health issues only. If you have any incomplete diagnostic orders (labs or imaging ordered but without results), you will need to get new orders through your next provider. I will not be responsible for following up on results of diagnostics performed after discontinuation of our relationship. You may request a transfer of medical records to your new physician. The first transfer is complimentary.
Payment Policies
I am contracted with several insurance companies. For an up-to-date list, please go to the New Patients tab.
If you are a member of one of these insurance plans, please bring your member card to all appointments and notify me before or at the start of your visit of any changes to your insurance status. I will submit bills to your insurance for you as a courtesy. You will need to pay any copays at the time of your visit. Payment via cash or check is preferred. (I no longer accept credit cards at office visits, although Paypal, which accepts HSA cards, may be accessed via my website.) Additionally, you will be responsible for any balances your insurance deems are your responsibility (such as a deductible or co-insurance) and for full payment of non-covered services. Each insurance plan differs in what services it covers. For example, not all insurances cover annual physical exams or certain vaccinations. It is the patient’s responsibility to understand his insurance and what is covered.
If you have insurance but I am not a contracted provider, I generally am able to submit the bill to your insurance for you as a convenience. You will remain responsible for any charges not covered by your insurance. I will bill you for these charges once your insurance has processed the claim.
If you are without insurance, you can receive a discount by paying with cash or check in full on the day of your appointment. Please call me if you have specific questions about my rates.
I will notify you via email if you have any outstanding charges. Payment of outstanding charges is due within 30 days of my email notification. If I have not received payment for outstanding balances by 30 days, a $15 fee will be added to your account, and will be added again for every 30 additional days the account remains unpaid in full. If you are suffering financial hardship, please contact me directly well in advance of the 30 day period, and we can negotiate a payment plan with waived late fees.
A fee of $30 will be imposed for a bounced check.
These policies may be updated periodically. Please check back from time to time to see what may have changed.