Lab and test results
We make every attempt to notify you as quickly as possible of test results, either by phone or in writing. We do not email test results on a routine basis. For routine lab tests, you should hear from us by phone or in writing within five business days. Results from imaging studies, including CAT scans, mammograms and bone density tests, as well as special laboratory studies and PAP smears, take significantly longer, often 10 days to two weeks. Please contact our office if you have not heard from us after three weeks regarding a test result or a specific laboratory study.
Nurse Visits for Lab Draws
You are welcome to come to our office for lab draws without a prior appointment. If possible, please call our office to notify us that you’ll be coming in and for what test so that we can have your paperwork ready. Feel free to visit our office Tuesday through Friday for fasting blood draws (we open at 8 a.m. ), or Tuesday through Thursday for Coumadin level testing.
Prescription refills
Please plan ahead! It is a great help to us if you have your prescriptions refilled during your regularly scheduled office visits. As a general rule, our providers write prescriptions for standard medications filled at local pharmacies for six months, and for mail-order pharmacies for one year. Please determine if you are due to have your prescriptions rewritten prior to your office visit and ask us to rewrite your prescriptions during your visit.
If you need refills on your usual medications and your prescriptions have expired, please contact your pharmacy first. Your pharmacy will then contact our office via fax and request authorization to process your refills. Having your pharmacy contact our office directly facilitates the process of refilling your standard medications.
If you change insurance plans or switch to a mail-order prescription plan between office visits and require us to rewrite prescriptions not in conjunction with an office visit, or if you would like us to call or fax your mail-order pharmacy prescription on your behalf, we will provide these services. These are services not covered by your insurance provider, but are included in your annual service plan fee.
Please be advised that if you have not been seen in our office within the past 12 months, prescriptions will not be refilled by phone or fax for any reason. Office visits are required at least every six months if the prescription is for a controlled substance, such as sleeping medication, pain medication, anti-anxiety medication, or medications for ADD or ADHD, and for patients with chronic medical conditions (including hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes) that require medications.
Patients on chronic narcotics will be asked to sign a Narcotics Prescription Agreement with their provider at the time we are asked to assume responsibility for prescribing these prescriptions. This agreement is a formal document that spells out the contract between the patient and the provider as it pertains to ongoing narcotics prescriptions. Patients on chronic narcotics prescribed by our office will receive prescriptions monthly for a 30-day supply with no refills. Patients must be seen in the office a minimum of every six months. Under no circumstances will prescriptions for chronic narcotics be written early or rewritten in the case of loss or theft. If at any time, any portion of the narcotics agreement is violated, prescriptions for narcotics will be terminated.
Patients on ADD and ADHD medications
Before our office will accept responsibility for prescribing these medications, we must have documentation of prior testing and diagnosis of ADD and ADHD by an appropriate psychiatrist or psychologist. After appropriate documentation is received, we will fill medications for these conditions for patients on an ongoing basis as long as certain conditions are met. Patients must be seen in the office a minimum of every six months for monitoring. Our providers will write up to three separate prescriptions at one time, each for a 30-day supply, or one prescription for a 90-day supply for mail-order pharmacies. The prescription must be picked up in our office by either the patient or parent. In the case of out-of-town college students, we will mail the monthly prescription to the patient directly. Please be aware that there is an additional $25 per year charge for administrative services required to handle the writing and mailing of these prescriptions on a monthly basis (in addition to your annual fee). This $25 is due every 12 months from the start date of the prescriptions.
Sleep and Anxiety Medications
Patients on chronic sleep medication and chronic anti-anxiety medication will under most circumstance also receive these prescriptions monthly for a 30-day supply. Under certain circumstances, a physician may allow for refills for six months for patients on stable doses of these medications. Patients on these medications must be seen in the office a minimum of every six months.