Appoinment Information

Emergency & Urgent Care
We do not typically provide emergency care. We would typically direct you to your nearest emergency department for concerns that are truly emergent in nature. On the other hand, we will make every attempt to provide all types of urgent care for your child during our normal office hours. This includes evaluation of lacerations and fractures, etc. We ask, though, that you please call us first before coming in, as we want to confirm that we can provide you the care you need so that we won’t delay the ultimate care that your child will need. We do not provide walk-in care at this time.

Sick Visits/Acute Concerns
Same-day appointments are specifically allotted for sick children to be seen. We make every effort to leave adequate space between well child visits to allow sick children to be seen when their parents would like for them to be seen. Occasionally these appointments fill more quickly than we can anticipate, especially during peak illness times, and we regret that we can not always predict these times. When this does happen, we have two choices: we can give you medical advice and see your child as early as possible the next day, or we can try to “work in” your child. This means we can overbook the schedule and see your child when there is a bit of free time between patients. Typically the wait is a little longer, but sometimes we feel this is necessary if a child is particularly ill. We try to schedule even all sick visits with your chosen physician, but if your physician’s schedule is full, you may be offered an appointment with one of the other physicians.

Follow-Ups
Occasionally we need to follow-up from a more acute concern, or we need to follow a chronic medical condition. Your doctor will tell you the frequency with which you need to be followed up. Initially we may need to see your child more frequently, but then we can see them more infrequently as the condition warrants. We typically see children with persistent asthma and ADHD, for example, every 3-6 months as the condition warrants. Follow-Up appointments are nearly always made with your chosen physician, to provide the best continuity of care, exceptions being made for vacations, etc.

Well Child Care
We consider well-child care the cornerstone of Pediatrics. At well child visits, we can follow your child’s growth, update their preventive care including immunizations, monitor their development and discuss any behavioral concerns that you may have. We do our very best to make sure you see your doctor for every well child visit, as this provides the very best continuity of care. These visits are approximately double the length of time as a sick visit, because we want to provide you with guidance about what to expect in the coming months as well. Your questions about your child’s development, temperament, diet and growth are welcome at these appointments and we recommend you keep a running list of questions that you can simply pull off and bring with you. We also carefully put together a packet of information for each well baby visit and we encourage you to read them carefully as well. The handouts are carefully selected so as to not overwhelm you with information, but to truly hit the most important bits of information.

We also use the well child exam to screen for chronic medical problems such as obesity, elevated blood pressure and cholesterol. Early intervention for these concerns may make a huge difference in the lifetime health of your child. Academic and learning concerns are also addressed, as well as concerns that you may have about your child’s social development and overall well-being.

Well child visits are booked well in advance, and we suggest you call ahead for these appointments as early as possible, at least a month in advance. For babies going through their frequent well child schedule, we suggest you schedule your next appointment as you leave the current one, so you can have the most convenient time for you possible.

As your child gets older, they may require periodic physicals for sports and camp, etc. If your child has their annual physical exam, you will not need to have an additional appointment to have those forms filled out. Scheduling the appointment around their birthday is a good way to help remember the appointment is due, and it is a good idea to take the moment to reflect on your child’s health for the coming year.

Sports/Camp Physicals
Periodically before summer gets started, and again before school gets started, we will have a few appointments available in the evenings specifically for camp and sports eligibility physicals for your convenience. Although convenient, we still feel that these are a poor substitute for a full annual well child exam. Remember that if you have an annual exam, you do not need an additional appointment for filling out sports and camp forms.

Behavioral Concerns/ADHD
Sometimes an annual well child exam allows insufficient time to adequately cover behavioral concerns. We also need a longer appointment to discuss any concerns that you may have about your child having ADHD or Learning Disabilities/Differences. When this happens, we suggest that you make a specific appointment for these concerns. We commonly have parents concerned about sleep, biting, excessive tantrumming, etc. and sometimes it is worth spending a little extra time on.

When parents have a concern about a new potential diagnosis of ADHD, we suggest that you come in for a consultation. If you feel that your child might be nervous or anxious about this appointment, we can do this without the child for the first visit. After this, we typically have some surveys that need to be filled out by both the teacher and parents. After we have this information back, we can schedule further appointments as needed.

Nurse Visits
Occasionally you will need medical care, but it may not be necessary to see the doctor. Some examples might include a weight check for a baby having some feeding problems, a repeat bilirubin test for babies being followed for jaundice, and immunizations needed or desired between well child visits.

Nurse visits may or may not be subject to a copayment. Your insurance will determine this, and sometimes we get surprised. Typically we collect a copay when we suspect that one will be charged, and credit it back to you later if the insurance does not charge the copay.