Your Visit

Paperwork

For your first appointment, you will need these forms completed before arrival to the office.

Medical Records

To obtain or release medical records, please fill out and return the document below.

Along with these forms, be sure to bring the following to your appointment:

  • your insurance cards
  • your medications in their original bottles
Informed Consent and Use of video

As we move into the "flu" season and covid cases are rising, please bring a mask with you if you are experiencing "cold" symptoms or a cough. We are trying to avoid the spread of these disruptive diseases. If you are a caretaker or spouse and are ill please wait in the car and the physician will call you to answer your questions or get information from you. If necessary for you to come in please make sure you have a mask on appropriately. NO SICK CHILDREN WITH RUNNY NOSES AND COUGH!

What To Expect During Your Visit

Office visits can be a time consuming challenge. These are some tips on conduct in the office that would improve efficiency and help keep everyone on time.

  • Patients are seen by physician referral only. If you are unable to keep an appointment, please give us at least 24 hours notice.
  • Please arrive for your appointment 15 minutes early. If we are ahead of schedule, we’d love to get you into a room sooner to keep the doctor on time.
  • Please silence or turn off your cell phones as soon as you step into the office. Phone calls disrupt other patients and the distraction of texting during an appointment is totally inappropriate.
  • If there is a scheduling conflict and you cannot make your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible. There are many people waiting to see the doctor and because of that fact, please don’t be surprised that you cannot reschedule for later in the week or next week.
  • If you will be late, please call ahead to let us know you are on your way. This way we can rearrange the schedule a bit to accommodate the change for the nurses’ and the doctors’ schedule.
  • If the doctor is held up at the hospital or called away to the hospital we will notify you and offer to rearrange your appointment. These are unavoidable at times due to the emergent nature of some neurologic illnesses.
Telehealth Medicine

Our clinic is doing everything we can to take care of our clients in a safe and effective manner during the Covid-19 crisis. You will notice new reminder calls, screening question on arrival for appointments, and the use of video for appointments and availability of telehealth

Medicare B vs Medicare C

For people who are on Medicare, every autumn they must choose between several options: Medicare B (the regular Medicare for healthcare outside of the hospital) or Medicare C (the new “Medicare Advantage”). Each of these plans also have choices that require further investigation regarding which is best for each individual. If you choose Medicare B then you have the option to choose a Medicare D plan that provides medication financial assistance based on their formulary (which drugs are preferred) and also perhaps a “gap” plan that covers what Medicare does not (the remaining 20%). If you take a Medicare C Advantage plan, then it dictates, what medications and tests are covered and what your office and specialist copays will be. While these ‘C’ Advantage plans may cover things like glasses, hearing aids, chiropractic and other services, it also may require more difficult criteria for diagnostic testing and certain treatments causing delay in treatment or specialty referrals. Additionally, you may no longer be able to see your regular physician if they are not in the ‘C’ network. There are many differences between Medicare B and C that require serious thought.

Over the past decade I have seen significant changes in healthcare and how we, as physicians, have been forced to make significant adjustments to how we provide healthcare; and a serious difference in the quality of care provided depending upon the choice of insurance. Physicians have a standard of care that is based on science, research, protocols, guidelines, and experience. When we find that based on insurance there is a dichotomy between the care of Medicare and Medicare Advantage based on prior approval criteria that differs, this weighs on us as unfair and we wonder who will pay the ultimate price. Too often, we know which is the best treatment or medication, and we cannot get insurance to pay for it (after hours spent on prior authorization and several appeals) and we do not like having to prescribe or choose lesser treatment. In general, it can take over a year to fail every alternative treatment that many Medicare Advantage plans requires us to try before getting acceptance of the best option, and even then, they sometimes continue to refuse.

As you watch the news and read the newspaper, I encourage you to seek out more knowledge and ask your doctors if they will continue to accept Medicare C, because there is a significant movement across the United States with physicians and large Health Services withdrawing from Medicare C for these reasons. Specialty groups cannot manage the number of referrals, are having to find ways to address the problem of not finding New Patient appointments available for 9 or more months is leading to a crisis. For Medicare B New Patient appointments generally do not need a referral approved by insurance before the patient can be seen. However, for Medicare C (Advantage Plans) several need pre authorized and special forms supplied prior to an appointment at a specialist or they will not pay for the appointment. The patient must pay the bill.

I encourage all seniors to critically evaluate if they really are best served by a Medicare C Advantage plan. If you are healthy and require minimal medication or testing and you need hearing aids and glasses more than healthcare, they may be the right fit. However, if this is not you, you may need to analyze which really is the best plan for your health. Is your health less important than the cost of your plan? Your physician will choose the most cost-effective choice unless your health is at risk and there is a clear best choice. Trust them. Ask them. Have a conversation. So as the time for change approaches (October 15-December 7) please take the time to look carefully at your choices and ask for assistance if it is not clear. There are many choices for help and take a friend or relative with you for another set of eyes and ears.