Appointments

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Our office is open Monday – Friday, 8:30 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.

We are a two physician practice (for more information, visit the about us section on www.sproutpedi.com). For continuity of care, we recommend you see the same doctor, or primary care physician (PCP), each visit.

• Each child must have an annual well child visit to continue to be seen for sick visits.
• For well visits, please schedule your appointment as soon as you are able so that you may see your preferred provider, especially during peak physical season (ie-July/August or back to school season.)
• For sick visits, you may see the 1st available provider or your PCP depending on schedule availability.
• Our policy is that you may not switch between PCPs once care has been established

We make every effort to see your child on time, because we know your time is valuable. To reduce wait times, please

• Call prior to your appointment or let the front desk know when checking in if you know a second child needs to be seen. Every child needs an appointment to be seen by the physician.
• Give our staff the purpose of your visit*
• Be aware that same day sick appointments are available. Walk ins are not accepted
• - Send a signed letter authorizing an individual to consent to medical care for your child if someone other than a legal guardian or parent accompanies your child to the visit. You may find a consent for care release form on our website. We will keep this form on file for you once signed.

*Some visits may require longer appointment duration times: ie, your child has a chronic, ongoing condition. Examples include: asthma, diabetes, headaches, stomach problems, behavior concerns.

We appreciate your understanding that situations can arise (such as unpredictable degree of illnesses) that may cause a longer wait from time to time.

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Late/No-Show Policy

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Late Policy

We realize that there are many circumstances beyond your control that may delay you from being on time toyour appointment. However, to maintain an efficient schedule, if you are more than 15 minutes late for your appointment, you may be asked to reschedule for a later date. If your child is sick, you may wait in the office and be worked in between patients or moved to the end of the schedule. If you think that you will be late for your appointment, please call us as soon as possible, so that we may advise you if your late arrival can be accommodated, or if we will need to reschedule you.

No Show Policy

If you do not come to your appointment and/or you do not call to notify us of cancellation at least 24 HOURS for well checks or 1 HOUR for sick visits prior to your appointment, you will be considered a no-show. If you have three no-shows, you may be discharged from our clinic. A no show will result in a $25.00 charge. This charge must be paid prior to your next appointment.

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Forms

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Various forms and letters are often lengthy and may take extra time to be filled out. Please allow 72 HOURS for forms or letters to be completed by our office. There will be a charge for letters or forms needing more than a signature (there is no charge for required school forms). There will be a $15 charge if you need forms completed sooner than the standard 72 hours. Once completed, we can have the forms available for you to pick up at the office or we can return the forms to you by mail (with a self addressed stamped envelope)

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Immunizations

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At Sprout Pediatrics, we believe that all children should be fully immunized unless there are medical contraindications. Therefore, we are not accepting patients/families unless they are willing to comply with the recommended timetable for vaccine administration per the American Academy of Pediatrics. We believe this policy advocates for children and their best interest.

Click here to see the immunization schedule.

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Medical Records

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Our office requires up to 15 BUSINESS DAYS to prepare copies of medical records.

Release to a physician: There is no fee for medical records if you are transferring care to another physician; these records will be faxed or mailed directly to that physician. A signed release form is required.

Release to a parent: A release form must be signed and a fee of $25 and up will be charged per record. These records are available for pickup or may be sent via mail.

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Phone Calls

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We welcome your phone calls and will do our best to return your phone calls in a timely manner.

Urgent calls are returned as soon as possible, and more routine calls will be returned as time permits. A majority of our calls are returned over lunch or towards the end of the day. If your call is not returned in a reasonable amount of time, please check back with us; occasionally, numbers are copied down incorrectly, or messages are not fully received due to poor phone reception.

Please note that after office hours, we do not address calls requesting appointments or prescription refills.

We will not prescribe new medications, antibiotics, or steroid medicine over the phone. For prescription refills,we encourage you to contact your pharmacy directly and they will contact us with the refill request. We have found that this will expedite refill requests. Please allow 72 hours to complete refill requests. If you contact your pharmacy and they indicate that they have tried to contact us but have not received a response or it has been greater than 72 hours, please call our office so that we can ensure that your prescription is being refilled in a timely manner.

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After Hours Calls

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After hours calls will be triaged by nurses and connected to the on call doctor if needed. There may be a $15.00 fee for an after hours call. This fee will be waived if your child is a newborn (under 3 months old), if you are referred to the emergency room or if you are advised to be seen in the office the following day.

Please also reference the section on our website under after hours to review common advice and when to call the doctor. Many insurance companies offer a free nurse advice line – you can access this advice line by calling the number on the back of your insurance card.

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ADHD

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We are not treating ADD/ADHD in our office. We believe the diagnosis and treatment of this can be best handled by specialists (psychiatrists or neurologists – can diagnose and prescribe medication; psychologist – can diagnose but not prescribe medication) who have been extensively trained on the medications/comorbidities for this condition.

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