Middleboro Pediatrics

DESCRIPTION OF PRACTICE

This information is to help you more effectively utilize our practice. This page provides our office hours, appointment and telephone policies, and other information to help you understand how our office operates.

We encourage parents to choose one doctor or nurse practitioner for routine appointments for their children. We feel this enables families to establish a more personal relationship with their child's physician or nurse practitioner. For both general examinations and sick visits, your child may be seen by any of the doctors or nurse practitioners. You may always request which one of us you wish to see.

At some of your visits we will provide you with printed information sheets to help you deal with a variety of childhood problems. These handouts are designed to assist you with many of the common problems parents and children encounter. Please consult these handouts before calling us with questions. Our handouts can also be downloaded from our handout page.

Payment is expected at the time service is rendered unless other arrangements have been made in advance.

OFFICE HOURS

Regular office hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday.

For urgent care on Sundays and Holidays, please call in the morning to make arrangements to have your child seen.

To accommodate working parents and older children, we have extended evening hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Evening hours are occasionally canceled because of vacations, holidays, and scheduling difficulties. Please check with the office during regular hours if you need to come in on those evenings.

Amy Hatch and Meredith Rubini, our nurse practitioners, will be here daily as well. They will provide routine care for all our patients as well as gynecologic services for the older girls in our practice.

Please call the office during regular office hours for routine matters such as appointments, prescription refills, laboratory reports, and school or immunization forms. We are not able to accommodate routine requests when the office is closed and your child's records are not available.

AFTER HOURS SERVICES

Doctor's services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by one of us for emergencies and urgent medical problems. If you need to have your child seen on weekends and holidays for an urgent problem, please try to call first thing in the morning when we can more easily make arrangements to see your child.

If your child does have an urgent problem or an emergency, or if you are unsure if the problem can wait until morning, please call us at any time for advice.

In the event of a true medical emergency, please contact the office before leaving for the emergency room, so we can either meet you there or help coordinate the emergency care required.
 

APPOINTMENT POLICIES

Because of the nature of medical practice, sick children with emergencies and urgent medical problems must always have priority. We will always try to see sick children the same day we receive the call. There will be occasional delays in our office schedule when emergencies arise or the number of sick calls is more than usual.

Physical exams are an opportunity to ensure your child is healthy, experiencing normal growth and development, and for you to discuss any problems or concerns you may have. A little planning will make them much more valuable for you.

When calling for appointments for physical exams, please call at least 1 month in advance if possible. If an exam is required sooner appointments are usually available, but may require seeing someone other than your child's usual provider. Appointments may be scheduled up to 3 months in advance.

Although we will try to oblige parents if they wish, we urge you to plan on a general physical exam for only one child at a time. We feel it is important for each child to be allowed privacy and for he or she to be the sole focus of attention during the visit. For older children who can be left alone in an exam room, we will schedule more than one child from the same family at 30 minute intervals to allow them to be examined separately. Please get baby-sitters for small children who will need supervision while your child is having his check up, or bring a second adult.

Plan on approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour for a complete physical examination with its attendant lab work, immunizations, hearing and vision screening tests, etc.

Please arrive a few minutes early for your appointment. We are unable to maintain our schedule during the course of the day if patients arrive late for their appointments. Patients who are more than 15 minutes late may be required to reschedule their appointments. If you are going to be late, please call us so we may try to rearrange our schedule. Every effort will be made to accommodate you to the extent possible.

INSURANCE POLICIES

We accept most major medical insurance policies. For more information, please visit our insurance page or please call the office if you have any questions.

A current insurance card must be presented at each visit. Co-payments must be paid at the time of the visit. Because of the volume of requests and the need for physician consultation, requests for referrals to consultants must be received at least several days in advance of the consultation. Requests for referrals may not be approved if adequate notice is not given.

TELEPHONE CALLS

When you call, please be specific about whether you want your child seen or whether you just need advice. Please be sure to give your name, your child's name and age, the problem you are having, and your correct telephone number.

During regular office hours, our receptionists will be happy to help you with administrative problems such as appointments, questions on billings, forms required, etc. With the exception of some routine, minor items, however, they are not trained to give medical advice. Please do not ask them for recommendations on treatments or diagnoses. Our office nurses can provide answers to most problems.

We try to answer telephone messages before office hours start in the morning, at noon, and at the end of the day. If possible, we will return your calls before these times. You can help us by being specific with your questions, trying to insure your line isn't busy when we return your call, and leaving word if you will be going out or will be at a different number at different times.

If you feel the problem is a true emergency, please state that when you call, and we will talk to you immediately. If you want to have your child seen that day, please ask for an appointment rather than having us return your call.

Calls after hours will be received by our telephone answering service. If you feel it is an emergency, please inform the operator. You should hear from one us within 15 minutes for an emergency call or 30 - 45 minutes for a routine call unless the operator tells you differently. Our answering service has been instructed to page us as soon as each call is received.

Occasionally a message may not come through on our pagers. If you have not had your call returned within an hour, please call back and ask the answering service to page us again. If you do need to call back, please also check to make sure the operator has the correct phone number.

CONCLUSION

Providing 24 hour, 7 day a week medical care for your children is a complex task, and we are continuously trying to improve the services we provide. Please feel free to discuss with us any problems that may arise. We welcome the opportunity to improve our service to you.