Office Policy

 

Appointments

Appointment times are approximate only, because each patient requires individualized attention by the doctor.  The doctor, as a specialist, is also confronted with many emergency cases during the day, which often delays our schedule.  The doctor may have to go deliver a baby or have to attend an emergency surgery.  If this happens we always try to contact our patients to come in at a later time or give them the option to reschedule at their convenience.  Please try to understand if you are asked to wait for the doctor.

Please help us keep on schedule by arriving for your appointment 15 minutes prior to your appointment time.  If you arrive for your appointment 15 minutes late we will ask you to reschedule your visit so that we are not penalizing the patient that are on time.

If it is necessary for you to cancel your appointment, please give us a 24 hour notice.  This will give someone else who needs to be seen a chance to schedule.

If you no show or do not give us at least 24 hour notice cancellation for your ultrasound appointment on Friday afternoons there will be a $50.00 charge assessed to you.  This amount must be paid in full before seeing the doctor again.

After Office hours Emergencies

Our office number is 817-473-7172 it is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  If you are having an emergency that requires the doctor to be notified, you will be prompted to leave a message and leave a call back number.  Your message must be longer than 5 seconds long or it will not record and notify the doctor.  Please stay by your phone until the doctor has called you back. You will need to remove your call block on your caller ID so the doctor may call you back.  Please do not leave emergency calls on the non-emergency message line.  These calls are not returned until the next business day when the office is open.

Please keep in mind that Dr. Westerholm is a solo practitioner.  While this means the likelihood of her delivering your baby is very high, it also means that she is on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week with the exception of every other weekend.  Due to this we respectfully ask that you keep all after hour calls to emergencies only.

Phone calls and messages

For all non-emergency calls there is a nurse available in the office Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9:00am to 4:30pm and Tuesday 9:00am to 1:00pm.  We will return your call within 48 hours of leaving a message with the office.

Emergency calls left during office hours will be returned by the nurse within 30 minutes.

Medication

Request for medication refills should be called into your pharmacy.  The pharmacy will fax a request to our office for consideration.  Please do not request refills for medications after hours by calling the office answering service.  We request 48 hour notice on all refill requests.

Laboratory and Radiology test

Patient will be notified of their test results by telephone or mail.  If you have not been informed of your results within 14 business days, please call our office during normal business hours.

Medical Records

We require written authorization from the patient prior to sending medical records.  No information regarding a patient will be released to anyone without prior authorization from the patient. We request 10 business days to process all medical records request.

FMLA Forms

Short term disability, FMLA and other forms required by third parties have a $15.00 charge associated with them and need to be paid prior to being filled out.  We need 5 business days to complete the forms.

Payment Policy

Payment is due at the time services are rendered.  Co-pays are due before being seen by the physician.  If you have a deductible or co-insurance on your insurance plan you will be require to pay a portion of this before being seen by the doctor.  We will provide an estimate of your cost for deductibles and co-insurance 24hours before your appointment time.

 Posted by at 9:41 pm