Medical Questions New Condition
Identifying an issue or problem over the phone and offering advice without a physical examination of the child, lab work, etc. is tough. Not to mention, it isn't the best way to practice medicine.
If you have a medical question regarding: symptoms your child is developing, or you are concerned about your child in any way, and your call is regarding a new issue, we ask parents to make an appointment so our providers can assess properly the child's condition, offer evidence based advice or provide an appropriate treatment.
A new issue or concern is one in which you have not already addressed with one of our providers recently during an office visit.
On-Going Medical Issue
After Office Hours Calls
If your child or teenager becomes acutely ill after office hours and you cannot wait until the next morning, the “on-call” will return your call. Our phones are answered after hours by an answering service. They will take our message and forward it to the doctor.
The doctor will determine whether she can handle the situation by phone and see you in the office the next morning or whether it will, in fact, be necessary to have your child seen more urgently in the emergency room.
When you are waiting for a doctor to return your call after hours, it is recommended to disarm the feature on your phone that does not accept calls from anonymous numbers. For privacy purposes, our doctor's have this feature on their home and cell phone.
Vaccine Policy
Vaccinating children and adolescents to prevent them from acquiring life threatening diseases is the single most important medical intervention we offer - as pediatricians - to patients. Simply put, vaccines save countless lives.
We have an important responsibility to protect our patients, their families and our communities from vaccine preventable diseases. Consequently, we don't accept the risk that un-immunized or under-immunized children and teens pose to children and their families in our practice and in our communities.
The recommended vaccines and their schedule are the result of years of scientific study and data gathering on millions of children by thousands of our brightest scientist and physicians.
We want to assure you that vaccines are safer today than they have ever been and it is recommended to give multiple vaccines at the same office visit.
Feel free to give us a call or schedule an appointment should you have questions or doubts. We welcome the opportunity to discuss our pro-vaccine policy.
Prescriptions
Our providers do not prescribe medication to patients without first completing a comprehensive clinical exam. For chronic conditions, we will be more than happy to fulfill a prescription refill.
Please note that in some instances, providers may ask parents to make an appointment prior to refilling a prescription for a chronic condition. The purpose, is so that the provider can re-evaluate the child an assess if the medication needs to be adjusted, modified or discountinued.
For chronic conditions, please contact your pharmacy and ask them to fax us a refill request at Fax: (847) 854-9403, or you may leave a prescription refill request with any of our staff members. Please allow up to three (3) working days for your refill request to be called in.
Payment
Co-payments and Deductibles
Your plan may require you to pay a co-payment and/or meet a yearly deductible. We expect these payments at the time of service; be sure that whoever accompanies your child to the office, he or she brings the payment with them. We accept cash, checks, VISA and MasterCard. Co-payments are a contractual obligation between you, your health plan and our practice; if the co-payment obligation is not met, your insurance plan has the right to deny the charges. This may leave you responsible for the services rendered during your visit.
Payment Responsibility
It is always a good idea to double-check with your particular plan to ensure that the doctors are approved providers before you are seen at the office. Although we are happy to file insurance claims on your behalf each time you visit our office, please understand that you are ultimately responsible for the payment of all charges incurred with the office regardless of your insurance coverage or reimbursement.
Guarantor
You will be required to provide us with the guarantor on your child's account with us. The guarantor is the individual who assumes financial responsibility for all payments to the practice. The guarantor is usually the individual that the child lives with (in the case of separated or divorced parents) or the policyholder on the insurance coverage.
To help parents understand some of the intricasies of health insurance plans, we have created a piece titled: Key Concepts To Understanding Your Health Insurance Plan.
Credit Card on File
We require all parents to put a credit card on file with our office. The card will be used to process balances for health care services rendered. For details about credit card on file, click here.
Statements
In an effort to contribute to a more ecological friendly enviroment, we do not mail paper statements to parent's and guarantor's home. Instead, charge details are posted on your child's FREE patient portal account.
Billing Process
Once your health plan has processed the claim for your visit, you will receive an automated email (to the email on file we have on file) with information regarding the charge to your credit card. Your health insurance plan determines the patient responsibility amount according to your plan benefits (i.e. deductible, copayment or coinsurance).
As in-network providers, we are contractually obligated only to collect what a patient's health plan determines as patient responsibility. We do not process cards with arbitrary amounts.
Parents will receive two automated email notifications concerning the charges. The first email is sent 5-days before the card is charged. The second email is sent after the credit card is charged.
Medical Records
Medical Records must be requested in writing and signed by a parent or guardian. We do not charge for records sent to another physician. Shot records can be faxed or mailed at parents request at no charge. There is a fee for records copied for parent's personal use or for use by insurance purposes.
Forms
- Sports Participation Form .............................................. $15
- IL School Form.............................................................. $15
- Camp Physical Forms .................................................... $15
- Asthma Medication Forms .............................................. $15
- School Excuses............................................................... $15
- Disorder questionnaire Forms............................................ $15
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity........................................... $15
- Home Health/Therapy Forms ............................................ $15
- Pre-authorization/Medication Forms.................................... $15
Letters
From time to time, parents need letters written and signed by the staff or the doctor on the practice's letterhead. Generally, these letters are not templates, thus require time to prepare and write. For such letters, there is a charge of $25.
We will need at least 2-weeks to complete the letter.
Insurance Plans
Each insurance plan is unique. Many plans have limits and/or exclusions that apply to your child's medical care. We recommend that you check with your particular plan in advance to find out what services are covered and how much they will reimburse you for medical expenses. The office accepts the following insurance plans.
Blue Cross Blue Shield, PPO (Includes EPO)
Aetna
National Provider Network, (NPN)
Blue Choice POS
CAPP Care/Beech Street, PPO
One Health Plan/Great West PPO
CCN PPO
One Health Plan/Great West POS
CIGNA, PPO/EPO
One Health Plan/Great West HMO
Cigna Managed Care Plans (HMO/POS)
PPO Next
Delphi Card, PPO
Preferred Plan, PPO
Evolution Health Systems PPO
Private Health Care Systems, PPO
First Health
Tricare Standard/Health Net
Health Marketing, Inc./Health Pref. of Mid-America, PPO
Unicare PPO
HFN, PPO/EPO
United Healthcare, Choice & Choice Plus
Health Network/BCE Emergis
United Healthcare Select, Select Plus, EPO, POS
Humana/Choice Care, PPO
United Healthcare, Options PPO