Patient Services

Office Policies

We believe that our relationship with our patients involves mutual trust and respect. Our physicians and staff are all well-trained and experienced. We do our best to answer questions and phone calls in a timely fashion. We try to respect our families’ valuable time by attempting to maintain a reasonable and “on-time” appointment schedule. Please let us know if you have questions or concerns about our office policies. We ask our patients to be respectful of our staff both in person as well as over the phone. If you have concerns about any of our office policies, please feel free to contact us.

Forms

School forms are completed during each annual well-visit starting at age 3. These school forms meet all state requirements and should be kept in a secure location for future use. Please fill in your part of any other forms (child’s name and information and your signature) before dropping them off or mailing. Please allow 5 business days to complete forms. Download our forms here.

New Patients

New patients should contact our office at (401) 438-6888 prior to establishing a patient care relationship.

Phone Calls

The office answers telephone calls from 8:30am-12pm and 1-5pm on Monday through Friday. During other times calls are forwarded to our answering service. The answering service will send the information to either the provider on call or our nurse telephone triage service. We strive to respond to calls within an hour.

We will do our best to keep waiting times on the phone to a minimum. Our phones are busiest on Monday and Friday and between 8:30-10 am and 3:30-5 pm, so be aware that “on hold times” may be longer at those times. Please make nonemergent calls during off-peak calling times to avoid long wait times. The portal is available for non-emergent questions, refills, referrals and billing inquiries.

We request that you respect our staff. Children’s illnesses are stressful and anxiety provoking. We are all parents ourselves and understand how you are feeling. Please do not yell, scream or use profanity when interacting with our staff.

Prescription Refills

Refill requests for controlled medications (ex ADHD medications) should be made during weekday business hours. Please allow 48 hours for request to be completed.

Prescription refill requests for non-controlled medications can be made directly to the pharmacy. The pharmacy will contact us electronically for refill.

Referrals

Advance notice is needed for all non-emergency referrals, typically 3 to 5 business days. It is your responsibility to know if a selected specialist participates in your plan. Your child’s doctor must approve referrals before they are issued.

Transfer of Records

If you transfer to another physician, we will provide a copy of your medical record to you or the physician you designate. Please allow 48 hours for transfer to be completed.

We provide records of your child for visits rendered here at Pediatric Associates only. For any previous records, you must request them directly from your previous doctor(s).

Vaccination Requirement

Our practice has decided that to assure the safety of all of our patients, family and staff we will require all patients to follow the vaccine schedule that is recommended by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Patients and families who are unwilling to follow this schedule are respectfully requested to seek health care at another pediatric practice.

This decision was not made lightly and is supported by all of our providers. Many families ask whether we mandate vaccines for all of our patients so as to assure the safety of their children. We feel that this policy helps to protect all of our patients and their families when they visit our office.

 We thank you for your understanding.