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Patient Information
What to Bring to the Appointment
What to Bring to the Appointment One of our goals is to shorten the time you spend waiting in our office. As a new patient, you can save valuable time by filling out the necessary forms at home. A new-patient packet, containing the forms and other patient information, will be mailed to you a few days prior to your scheduled office visit. Please bring the following to your appointment:
Dr. Carter and the staff value your time, therefore, we make every effort to be punctual and avoid long waits for you in the lobby or exam room. Unfortunately, unavoidable delays sometime occur, usually due to unexpected emergencies, delays in the operating room schedule at the hospital or when patients ahead of you require more time than expected for their appointment. We will be happy to reschedule your appointment if you are unable to wait. Insurance and Payment Information We are providers for Medicare and most major insurance plans. We provide insurance billing. Anything not covered by insurance will be your responsibility. We request payment at the time of your appointment for services that are not covered by insurance. Your insurance company may also require you to pay a co-payment at the time of your appointment. When necessary, our staff will work closely with patients who require a payment plan. If you have any questions regarding which insurance plans we accept or any patient billing concerns, please call us at the phone number below. Questions regarding your coverage and benefits should be directed to your employer or insurance company. For prescription refills or questions regarding medications prescribed for you by Dr. Carter, please call the office number between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and ask to speak with the nurse. Dr. Carter will not be able to phone in prescriptions or refills for pain medications, sedatives, or sleep medications after hours when the office is closed because he does not have access to your office medical chart. Please call for these medications only during regular office hours. If you experience severe pain and need pain medication after hours, we suggest that you go to the nearest hospital Emergency Room. It is a fact of life that emergencies sometime occur, usually at night or on weekends, and that is when you need your doctor most. Dr. Carter is "on call" after hours, on weekends, and holidays to handle any emergency situations which might occur. If you feel you have a true emergency or an urgent problem that cannot wait until the office is open, you may reach the doctor by calling the office phone number any time, day or night, including weekends and holidays. If the office is closed, your call will be answered by a trained, professional answering service who will then contact Dr. Carter for you. He will return emergency calls as soon as possible. From time to time Dr. Carter may be out of town and unavailable to respond to your call. If so, the answering service will let you know that your call will be returned by the doctor who is providing "on call" coverage for Dr. Carter while he is away. We request that you contact Dr. Carter during non-office hours only for emergencies or urgent problems that cannot wait until the office is open. If for some reason you are unable to reach the doctor in an emergency situation, we advise that you go to the nearest hospital Emergency Room for initial care and evaluation. The Emergency Room doctor will then contact Dr. Carter, or the doctor providing "on call" coverage for him if he is out of town. Dr. Carter is affiliated with the following medical facilities:
Our Notice of Privacy Practices describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. It is given to all new patients and a copy is available upon request.
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