Primary Care of Western New York, LLP Appointment Policy
Primary Care of Western New York provides medical services by appointment. Patients cannot walk into the office and expect to be seen by their provider. When we see patients without appointments we create situations that are unfair to other patients. True emergency treatment needs should always go to the hospital emergency room.
Our phone lines are open 8am to 7pm Monday through Thursday, 8am to 4pm Friday, and 8am to 11am Saturday. We experience a high volume of calls on Mondays and Fridays from 8am-6pm. We recommend to patients that non-urgent and routine calls be avoided during the high volume times or be made after 6pm when our call volume decreases. In addition, established patients may use the online patient portal to communicate with the office for administrative (appointments, billings, non-urgent questions) matters.
New Patients must be seen for a physical exam appointment to establish a doctor-patient relationship before we can begin to provide medical care or prescribe medication. New Patient appointments necessitate extra time and it is important that new patients keep their initial appointments.
New Patients who fail to keep their new patient appointment without proper cancellation notice will be sent a letter informing them that the practice will no longer be able to accept them as a patient.
Established Patients phoning for appointments for urgent or sick visits are offered our sick visit appointments for that day. If there are no more available appointments for that day, the call will be taken by a nurse so that we can establish the nature and severity of your illness. She will determine when you can be seen or refer you to an immediate care center or emergency room for urgent care.
In an attempt to minimize everyone’s time in the waiting room, we must advise that if patients are more than 10 minutes late for an appointment they may need to reschedule their appointment.
Appointments must be cancelled in a timely manner or there may be a missed appointment charge of $25. In most cases, timely cancellation means informing the office at least 24 hours prior to the appointment time. Established Patients who do not show for more than three appointments without timely cancellation will be sent a letter discharging them from the practice.
As a courtesy, we remind our patients of their upcoming appointments by phone. Lack of an answering machine, busy signals, and unlisted/changed/non-working phone numbers mean that we cannot always accomplish the reminder. Please keep your appointment on your calendar.
Patients who walk in and demand to see a provider are disruptive and this jeopardizes the doctor-patient relationship. It is our policy to see patients by appointment only and we will not be able to accommodate any walk-in requests.
Primary Care of Western New York, LLP Financial Policy
Primary Care of Western New York, LLP (PCWNY) is committed to serving our patients with professionalism, care and concern. We expect the same commitment from our patients. This includes being on time for your appointments and calling to cancel an appointment in advance if you can’t make it. This commitment also includes financial responsibilities, like presenting your identification and insurance cards at every appointment and making your copay and deductible payments at the time of your visit with cash, check, or credit card.
Your responsibility is to provide us with accurate and complete information concerning your primary and secondary insurance medical benefits, including documents from other providers. Current identification and insurance benefit cards are to be presented at each office visit. As a courtesy, PCWNY will file your insurance claim for you. If you are a Medicare patient, we will bill Medicare and your secondary insurance for you.
For services rendered outside of our office, like radiology, certain laboratory tests, surgery centers, physical therapy, hospitals and rehabilitation centers, it is the patient’s responsibility to know which facility you are is covered by their insurance company. Please speak with your insurance member services or one of our staff before scheduling outside services.
Patients of PCWNY agree to pay any balance remaining on their account after any insurance payments have been paid upon receipt of a billing statement. The patient must provide PCWNY with a current address and other contact information. Our patients further understand that if they fail to pay the balance on their account this will result in PCWNY pursuing collection of the debt and possible discharge from the practice.
