Office Hours
CALLING THE OFFICE DURING OFFICE HOURS
CALLING THE OFFICE AFTER HOURS/WEEKENDS
POLICIES
| Monday-Wednesday | 8am-6pm |
| 8am-9am walk-ins (acutely ill patients only) | |
| Thursday-Friday | 8am-5pm |
| 8am-9am walk-ins (acutely ill patients only) | |
| Saturday | 8am-9am walk-ins (acutely ill patients only) |
| Sunday | No routine hours; appointments may be scheduled directly with the doctor on-call on an individual basis if necessary. |
2012 Holiday Hours
Good Friday (April 6th) Limited Morning Hours
Memorial Day (May 28th) Closed
July 4th Closed
Labor Day (September 3rd) Closed
November 21st (Wednesday) Limited Morning Hours
Thanksgiving Day (November 22nd) Closed
November 23rd (Friday) Limited Morning Hours
Christmas Eve (Monday) Walk Ins Only
Christmas Day Closed
New Year's Eve (Monday) Limited Morning Hours
New Year's Day 2013 Closed
Walk-in hours are available all year for ACUTE illnesses only (illnesses arising suddenly). We will not see patients for chronic illnesses/problems during this time. Patients are seen on a first come, first serve basis.
Walk-ins are for established patients only. New patients require a scheduled appointment with a physician for their first visit to the office.
CALLING THE OFFICE DURING OFFICE HOURS
We strive to provide our parents with efficient service when calling our office. For this reason, when you call, there will be several options from which to choose to route your call appropriately. Calls are received from 8am until the doctor sees the last patient. If you have a very urgent matter and need to speak to a doctor or nurse immediately, there is an emergency option. For routine matters, please consult the green book or our website links prior to calling the office as these references provide useful information.
It is very important for scheduling purposes to let us know if you need extra time for your child's appointment. We will gladly provide more time if we know in advance so your doctor does not run behind and you do not feel rushed.
Well Visits/Physicals
Well visits can be made with any physician in the practice. The physicians share all of the patients. Therefore, you can choose which doctor your child sees for each well visit. In general, the further in advance you call, the more likely you are to get an appointment with the doctor and time of your choice. We have evening appointments available for well exams during the weekdays.
Ill Appointments
If your child is ill and you are certain an appointment is needed, let the receptionist know and an appointment will be made right away. Often, an appointment is not necessary and it would behoove you to speak to the triage nurse before making an appointment. Please call as early as you can in the day so that we can see all ill children in a timely fashion. We want you to be reassured that all of our doctors practice similarly so that if your child's doctor is unavailable that day, you can feel comfortable in seeing one of the other doctors. The doctors may stay after hours if it is determined that a child with an urgent/emergent medical concern needs an appointment.
Medical Advice
If you are unsure if an appointment is warranted or would just like to talk to the nurse about a medical issue, you have the option of leaving a message for the nurse. You will received a callback form a qualified registered nurse (RN) in a timely fashion, generally within a few hours, and definitely before the end of the day. Complicated medical, developmental or behavioral issues are best handled by the doctor and an appointment will be recommended.
Prescription Refills
Refills of prescription medications should typically not be needed as the doctor should give you enough refills to last until your follow up appointment. Please discuss the appropriate interval of appointments with your doctor at your visit as this varies for different patients and different medications. When you have no refills left, you should make another appointment. This appointment is called a "medical evaluation" or a "med eval" and can be made by the receptionist. If your child may need a change in a routine medication, you will need to speak to the nurse for advice.
If you need a prescription refill, you will need to be routed to our "prescription mailbox". Follow the prompts and leave the appropriate information. Please allow 48 hours.
Referrals
A referral is a form filled out by our office staff, at your request because your insurance company requires it. It is then sent to your insurance company or specialist prior to the date of your appointment. This is a lengthy form so one is not done if it is not needed. The only way to find out if one is needed is to call your insurance company and inquire.
School/Sports/Immunization Forms
If any form is needed to verily shots or an examination, fill out your portion and bring in/fax/send the form for us to fill out the rest. We can send the form back to you. If these forms are brought at the time of your child's physical, we can fill out our part right then. Most schools or daycares accept these as "current" for one year.
Billing/Insurance/Managerial Questions
These are routed to our billing department and general practice comments/concerns are routed directly to our office manager.
Questions for the Doctor
If you have a specific question or concern you feel is only appropriate for the doctor, leave your information with the receptionist or nurse and the doctor will contact you by the end of the next day he/she is in the office, right away if it is an emergency.
CALLING THE OFFICE AFTER HOURS/WEEKENDS
The philosophy of the pediatricians at Emerald Pediatrics is to always be available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for urgent medical problems. We define an "urgent medical problem" as a medical problem that requires immediate advice or intervention. We expect you to contact us if you cannot find the answer to your question on our website or in the green book. It is NEVER an imposition to answer calls of this nature.
Conversely, it is not appropriate to call after hours for routine, non-urgent medical questions, to make an appointment or for over-the-counter medication dosing. Our doctors and staff have worked hard to provide accurate, accessible information in the Emerald green book, on this website and office handouts as well as provide phone service availability to parents during daytime and early evening hours. We expect that parents utilize the resources provided to answer routine concerns/questions or call the office during regular hours.
If your child has an urgent medical problem after hours, follow the prompts and leave a message for the doctor on call. If you do not receive a call back within 2 hours, please call again and remember to leave an UNBLOCKED phone number where you can be reached, your child's name, age and a short description of your child's symptoms. This option is NOT available from 9pm to 8am, as the doctor on call is only available for emergencies during those hours (see "doctor's line"option below). The doctor will call you back with a blocked number, so please answer the phone even if the number is blocked.
If your child's medical condition is so serious that you need to speak with a physician immediately, you may leave a message on the "doctor's line". This is a line that is typically reserved for hospitals or other doctors calling about our patients, but will be available to parents for serious medical circumstances such as a child with breathing problems, seizures, severe accidents or other conditions of that magnitude. Follow the appropriate prompts and the doctor will call you back immediately.
If for some reason you do not receive a call back after two calls, assume that our phone system is not functioning properly and take your child to Nationwide Children's Emergency Department (downtown).
POLICIES
Unscheduled appointments
We do not see children without an appointment unless it is an emergency. The doctors request that parents please refrain from asking the doctor questions about another child or asking the doctor to check another child that was not previously scheduled unless it is an emergency. This policy exists so the doctors do not get behind. If a 5-minute question was asked only three times, 15 minutes are added to other families' wait time. Our staff is committed to respecting your busy schedule and running on time. It is appreciated if you please respect the time of our staff and our other families. Often we can work in an unscheduled child at a later time or with another doctor if needed. Ask the receptionist upon arrival to discuss your options.
Missed Appointments
Patients are charged $25.00 if an appointment is missed. We consider an appointment missed if you have not called the office to cancel the appointment by the appointment time. We waive the first occurrence.
Arriving Late for an Appointment.
If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, your appointment is missed. We will make every effort to reschedule you that day. If that is not possible, you will be asked to reschedule on another day.
Fees
Extra fees are charged on weekends, holidays and after published weekday hours.
Emergency Department (ED)/Urgent Care Use
Unless you have an extreme emergency, call the office or the on call doctor before you take your child to the ED or urgent care. We would like to save you the long wait and exposure to illness, if possible. Often we can advise you adequately over the phone until we can see your child in the office. If you do need to go to an urgent care or ED, we can call ahead and give the doctors there appropriate information. In addition, your insurance company ay not pay for the visit if you have not contacted us first. If an ED or urgent care visit is needed, we recommend ONLY Nationwide Children's Hospital. The closest facility is often not the best facility for your children.
Resident and Medical Student Education
If for some reason you do not receive a call back after two calls, assume that our phone system is not functioning properly and take your child to Nationwide Children's Emergency Department (downtown).
The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health and Nationwide Children's Hospital Residency Program are located in Columbus and are among the nation's top medical education programs. We feel extremely fortunate to have these facilities so close. The doctors at Emerald Pediatrics are committed to the betterment of these programs. One way we contribute is through volunteering to educate medical students and pediatric residents about outpatient pediatric care. Please welcome our young doctors and doctors-to-be. We advise them that listening to parents/patients is one of the most important parts of practicing medicine.
