Referrals For Our Care

We will evaluate any patient who wishes to be seen, including second or third opinions about surgical options. However, we strongly prefer referrals, even self-referrals, when a clear diagnosis of the clinical problem has already been accomplished. If we are not confident about a diagnosis, we may request additional medical consultation before making our final surgical recommendation. Finally, surgical care is expensive: we include a financial assessment as part of our pre-operative assessment. Although we rarely, if ever, refuse to perform surgery based solely on financial considerations, we wish to stress that the surgical aspects of care are only one component of managing the complex problems we typically see. We believe the financial impact of the surgical intervention with the cost of ongoing medical management is part of the informed consent process.

Office Hours and Appointments

We try to see each of our patients on an appointment basis, and so we request that you call in advance so that we can reserve a time for you. Urgent conditions and emergencies are given special consideration. If you must cancel or reschedule an appointment, please call us 48 hours in advance. We make every effort to be on time for our patients and ask that you extend the same courtesy to us. Should an emergency occur which would delay seeing you promptly, we will make every effort to notify you. We ask for your understanding in this matter.

Appointment Confirmation Calls

Patients will receive an automated reminder call 2-3 days prior to your appointment. New patients will receive a new patient packet in the mail. We ask that you fill out the forms in advance, and bring them with you to your appointment. Please bring your insurance card to your appointment so that we can make a copy for your chart.

Appointment Check-In

Please arrive at least 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time for registration. You will need to bring your insurance card and driver’s license in order for us to complete the registration process. Failure to do so may require us to reschedule your appointment. Please bring any medical records you may have, including films, and make sure you have a referral if your insurance plan requires one.

Appointment Cancellation/No-Show Policy

If you cancel an appointment less than 48 hours in advance, or fail to show up for an appointment, you will be charged a $50 fee. Our time is valuable too. (Note: Please be aware that charges for failed appointments are not covered by insurance.)

Test Results

Results from procedures, x-rays, or tests the physician has ordered are generally returned to our offices within one week. While some results can be given to you by the nursing staff, our physician generally prefer to discuss results with you personally. Therefore, when you wish to learn the outcome of your test, we request that you call the office and give both a day and evening phone number where you can be reached. Since our physician spend daytime hours seeing patients in the office or performing surgery in the hospital, they return most calls in the evening, usually before 10:00 PM.

Medical Records

The information contained in your medical record is strictly confidential. We value the trust you place in us to keep this information confidential and will not release information without your signed permission. If you wish to have a copy of your medical records, please call the office to have a release form sent to you. When we receive this completed form in our office, we will release records to you in person, after providing a picture ID. Please allow at least one week for this process.

Telephone Calls

We try very hard to answer and return telephone calls as quickly as possible when you contact us. We do return calls in the order of perceived urgency – please be sure to communicate clearly to the receptionist or nurse when leaving your message how urgent you believe your call to be.  In life threatening situations, please dial 911 immediately before you attempt to communicate with our office.

Email

Our policy on eMail communication is still evolving – this is still a new area for us and the confidentiality of communicating with patients in this medium will ultimately be tightly regulated by the federal government under the emerging rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).