Appointment

Appointments


WELL CHILD CARE (check ups and sports physicals) and immunizations are vital to keeping your child healthy. These visits are recommended frequently in the first two years of life then annually in the toddler and school years. 


We strongly feel well child care is absolutely essential to your child’s well-being.

We provide various screening procedures that are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics but may not be covered by all insurance policies. If this is a concern, please ask for details when scheduling your appointment.



Check Ups


Appointments for well child care are usually available to schedule 2-3 months prior to when your child is due to come in. Booking siblings in back to back appointments can save travel time but we request you plan a safe diversion for the children while you converse with the doctor. Since missing school is a concern for older children, please plan ahead for those popular after-school, school holiday and summer appointment slots. If you have a particular day or time in mind, we do maintain a waiting list at times. We understand sometimes a need arises for a well child appointment on short notice despite a parent’s planning. We will do our best to find a solution for your child including overbooking or offering an appointment with a different provider than usual. Oftentimes, keeping up-to-date on annual sports physicals can prevent having to schedule an “emergency” appointment at what is usually an inconvenient time for your busy teen.


Please bring any paperwork your child needs completed by the doctor to the visit such as daycare forms, asthma/allergy school forms, camp forms, college forms and MSHSSA forms. Note that some of these forms require the parent/student section or testing (e.g., medical history or TB skin test) to be completed and signed by a parent and the student before the appointment. Links for some of the common forms are available on the Forms Sections.


If timing is critical to your schedule, please consider requesting the first appointment of the morning or afternoon.

In Depth Appointments

Appointments for chronic conditions (for example, ADD, asthma or constipation) often need more time than you might expect to fully discuss symptoms, medical history and planning future care. These longer appointments are usually scheduled 2-4 weeks in advance. Explaining the problem in detail when you call for the appointment will allow additional time to be scheduled so that the problem can be addressed in an unhurried way. We want to give each of your concerns all the attention needed to manage the problem. While counter-intuitive, it is usually not efficient or cheaper to schedule a well child visit with a chronic illness visit.

Saturday and Holiday Appointments


These appointments are limited and reserved for conditions urgent enough they should not wait for the next regular office hours. Calling early enables us to schedule necessary appointments promptly. Scheduling an appointment will minimize waiting time. If you choose to come to the office without an appointment, your child will be seen after those with appointments. Chronic problems or non-urgent conditions will be scheduled during regular office hours Monday-Friday.



Rescheduling


We understand that family schedules are very busy and changeable. If you are running late, please notify us so we may reschedule your child’s appointment for a more convenient time. As time is reserved for your child, it is very helpful to cancel at least 24 hours in advance if you are not able to keep your appointment. This allows us to offer that appointment to another child. Repeated missed appointments without cancellation may result in additional charges or your family being asked to leave the practice.


We make every attempt to honor your appointment times as we appreciated the value of your time and dislike long waits ourselves. The nature of caring for children, however, sometimes makes this difficult due to emergencies in the hospital or in the office. We are grateful for your understanding of the inconvenience. We will try to keep you informed of delays and can reschedule your child’s appointment if needed.


We very much want to help you with your sick child, however, adding in questions, exams, refills and paperwork for unscheduled siblings even for minor problems makes your provider late for the next child who is waiting.  Please help us stay on time by scheduling an appointment for each child who needs our attention.  The front desk can start refill and paperwork requests more efficiently than the nurses and doctors. We truly appreciate the courtesy for your fellow parents.


Nurse Visits


Children may receive immunizations and other injections with an appointment during most of the year at NURSE VISITS. Nurse appointments are generally available, Monday-Friday 10:00 am – 11:00 am and 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm as well as Saturdays from 10:00 am – 11:00 am. Please call to schedule an appointment. Our office nurses are not able to advise you on alternate vaccine schedules. Please come to your nurse visit prepared to state exactly which immunizations or injections you are needing. If you are not sure, schedule a visit with your provider instead. For the safety of your children, no immunization will be given if a provider is not in the office.

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