Office Visits & Appointments

COVID-19 and Adjustments to Office Workflow

Our goal is to continue to provide outstanding health care to our families while simultaneously protecting our patients and our staff from COVID-19 disease transmission. Read about how we are adapting our office workflow and procedures.

Same Day Sick Visits

When your child is sick, we know you want quick answers to questions you may have. You should always feel comfortable calling us or communicating through our patient portal with questions. Please reach out if your child is exhibiting symptoms of illness or has minor injuries. A phone call is always recommended for any urgent medical matter. CALL 911 FOR ANY TRUE EMERGENCY.

We treat all general pediatric illness (fever, cough, rash, ear pain, sore throat, tummy pain, etc.). We also treat minor injuries – bumps and bruises, nursemaid’s elbow, minor lacerations – saving you a trip to the emergency room. We will always try to get your child evaluated on the same day that you call.

At this time, all sick patients during office hours will be seen via telemedicine visits. As appropriate, select patients will have recommended follow up testing for flu, strep or COVID19 (PCR) at our drive-up parking space (by appointment only), and a few patients may be seen in the office at the end of the day, at the discretion of our clinical providers.

Preventive Care & Well Child Visits

Preventive care is the pillar of pediatric health care. When your child comes in for a preventive or a well care visit, we cover many important topics:

• Age-specific health concerns
• Growth and development assessments
• Routine and recommended screening tests (such as blood pressure, hearing, vision, depression screening, autism screening, maternal postpartum depression screening)
• Laboratory screening tests (hemoglobin, lead, cholesterol)
• ​Vaccine counseling and administration
• Anticipatory guidance specific to your child’s age and needs

You can review the recommended components of well child care by age by following the age-specific links here.

​We can perform well visits either in-person or via telemedicine, it’s your choice.

Telemedicine well visits are recommended by the AAP as an additional approach to well care in the era of COVID-19 and include all of the above, with the exception of services that need to be performed in-person (like screening and vaccinations). These can be done in an office “follow up well” visit.

Services not included in a typical Well Child Visit

The following are considered separate services from your scheduled Well Child Visit:

• Evaluation and management of a significant new or existing health problem. Examples include chronic abdominal pain, severe headaches, profound fatigue, poorly controlled asthma, a newly suspected food allergy, significant weight loss, an eating disorder, and mental health problems.
• Discussions about ongoing complex health problems. Examples include seizure disorder, significant developmental delays, and diabetes.
• Review of significant concerns related to a specific prior illness
• Coordination of care with specialists and ancillary health providers
• Addressing health concerns of siblings

If your child has a significant health issue raised during a Well Child Visit

We will make every effort to accommodate and address non-preventative health concerns that arise during the well visit. But, if the non-preventative concerns raised require more time than the time scheduled allows, we may need to schedule a follow up telemedicine visit. This is particularly important during this COVID-19 pandemic, as our office must run on time as much as possible so that we can continue to keep our waiting rooms clear.​

If we are able to accommodate both preventative and non-preventative health concerns during the same visit, we will need to bill for both components of the visit accordingly, which may require a copay for the non-preventive component of the visit. Your insurance will process the visit codes according to your plan guidelines, applying copay, coinsurance, and/or deductibles as applicable. Health insurance contracts dictate our patient’s financial responsibility, and as contracted providers, we must comply with what the insurance company determines is your ‘cost share’ and bill you for any balances.

Telemedicine Visits

Our telemedicine platform Doxy.me offers patients and their parents/care providers an exciting new means to connect with our health providers. Telemedicine visits will be done with live audio-video technology in a HIPPA-compliant fashion and documented within our AthenaHealth EHR, just like an office visit.

While not every health complaint will be suitable for a telemedicine visit, our providers will work as appropriate through this platform to review your health concerns, answer clinical questions, review medications, order laboratory testing, coordinate referrals and more.

Please note that telemedicine visits may be subject to co-pays and will be processed through your health insurance company just like an office visit.​

After-Hours Care