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Valley Pediatric Associates LLC 5 Park Center Ct, Suite 300, Owings Mills, MD 21117 Phone: 410-902-7710 Fax: 410-902-4410 Email: info@valleypediatrics.com
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are our office hours?Our regular office hours, by appointment only, are:
All other times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, a physician is available by telephone for emergencies. How do I make an appointment?Please call the office during office hours. Let the staff know if this is for a routine check up, a follow up visit or a sick (acute) visit. Sick visits can usually be seen the same day. Check ups are usually not the same day. If there is an emergency (school sport form due yesterday) we will try to squeeze you in, but that depends on the schedule. We try to stay on schedule, so please do not bring other children without appointments. If another child is sick, please let us know in advance and we will try to accommodate you. What if I have to cancel an appointment?If you are unable to keep your scheduled appointment, please call our office 24 hours before your appointment to reschedule. This will allow time to provide that time slot to another patient. We reserve the right to charge $25.00 for appointments that are not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance. How old can you be and still come to Valley Pediatric Associates, LLC?We see patients up to 21 years old. We do not usually accept new patients after 16 years old, unless there are extenuating circumstances. What insurances does Valley Pediatric Associates, LLC accept?(A list will be published soon. Meanwhile, please call the office to make sure that we take your insurance.) We try to keep this list up to date, but please call to confirm before changing your insurance plan. How do I reach you during Business Hours? If you need to reach us regarding non urgent appointments, prescription refills for chronic medications, billing problems or insurance questions, you can call our front office staff during regular business hours at 410-902-7710. Prescription renewals may also be handled on-line through our practice web site (see How do I get refills below). What if I have an emergency during your regular office hours? Our physicians are available to attend to acute or urgent medical problems at any time. Routine medical concerns such as dosages for common over-the-counter medications, simple first aid measures, fever control etc. are addressed on our web site under the e-Resources section or your question may be answered over the phone by our office staff. Our physicians will return calls regarding more complex issues. Urgent calls will be returned immediately. Less urgent ones will be returned before the end of the morning or afternoon session when they were placed. If you have a true emergency, call 911 immediately. If you feel that 911 is not necessary, but the situation is urgent, you will be asked to come into the office or your call will be immediately directed to a physician. What happens if my child gets sick after office hours? CALL 410-902-7710 If a problem arises outside of our normal office hours, there is a doctor on call 24 hours a day. Please leave a message and the physician on call will return your call, usually within 1 hour. Please tell us your child’s name, age, and a brief description of the problem. Please clearly state your phone number. If you do not receive a call back, please call again. There may have been a problem with understanding the phone number or problems on the phone line. If you feel that you have a potentially serious or life threatening condition, call 911 immediately. What if my child is sick and I need an appointment the next day? If you need to be seen at the start of office hours, please call first thing when the office opens that morning. Physicians do not have access to the office schedule while on call, so please do not call the on-call doctor to ask about, schedule or cancel appointments. Should we go to a walk-in clinic at night? We do not routinely recommend walk-in clinics because of variable experience with children among their providers. We pride ourselves on our availability to discuss urgent problems at any time. Should you have a true life threatening emergency, call 911 immediately. For anything else, please call us first. Use of hospital emergency rooms should be limited to such severe situations, or if you are directed to go there by the nurse or physician on call. In the majority of cases, you can call us and together we can decide how to approach the problem. We agree with the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics that most medical care should be done in the "medical home." A medical home is an approach to providing comprehensive primary care. A medical home is defined as primary care that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective. When you bring your child for routine concerns, such as sore throat and earache, to urgent cares or emergency rooms, an opportunity is lost for coordination of care with your medical home. For example, if your child has multiple ear infections treated elsewhere, we are less likely to recognize the need for a referral to an ear specialist. If you can manage symptoms at home until our office is open, please bring your child to our office so that we can be involved with your child's health and well being. If your child has immediate concerns, such as difficulty breathing, please call the doctor on call. What kind of questions might you ask if we call after hours? Common questions are:
How do I have school / camp / sports forms completed? Follow this link to our forms policy. How do I get refills of my child’s medication? Routine medications can be refilled by calling during normal office hours. Prescriptions will be available in 1-2 business days. Prescriptions can also be refilled by email. The email is checked once daily. If this is an emergency, please call the office. Click on the link below to send an email (may not work for web-based email), or copy and paste the email address into your email program. Please have available the following: (you can select the lines below, copy them, and paste them into your email, and complete the information).
Prescription for a controlled substance (e.g. ADD medications) can not be called in or e-prescribed. You must pick up the prescription or have pre-addressed, stamped envelopes in your child’s chart so we can mail it to you. How do I get a referral to a specialist? Please call during normal office hours and have available the following:
Referrals will be available in 3-5 business days. As per insurance company policy, we can not backdate referrals. How do I transfer my child to your practice? Print out and complete the Transfer of Records form. You may need to call your insurance company to change the primary care doctor on your card. If this is not done, your visit with us may not be covered by the insurance company. Who will my child see for visits? Your child will see his/her primary doctor for all checkups. We try to have the same doctor see your child for sick visits also, but sometimes this is not possible due to the schedule. We want your child to be seen in a timely manner for sick visits, and your child’s primary doctor may not have the first available appointment. |
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