Thank you for choosing Arrowhead Pediatrics as your child’s pediatrician’s office. Our policies have been put in place to ensure that we continue to provide quality medical care to our patients. Please carefully read through all of our policies.
Billing Policies:
It is your responsibility to know and understand all of the information required by your insurance plan to avoid unexpected out of pocket expenses. (Examples being: after-hours charges, well visit coverage, immunizations, in-house testing, contracted laboratory, radiology, durable medical equipment, and sick visit coverage.)
Payment is due at the time services are rendered to your child. This includes, but is not limited to co-payments, deductibles, and coinsurance percentages. If your insurance is not in effect at the time services are rendered, payment is still expected at the time of service. We may have to reschedule your appointment if the required payment is not provided. For your convenience, we accept Cash, Checks, Visa, & MasterCard.
If, for any unforeseeable reason you do not have your co-payment amount with you at the time of service, please be aware you will be charged an administrative late fee of $18.50 in addition to your co-payment for processing your co-payment after your visit. This fee will be waived if the co-payment is made prior to 5pm on the day of your visit.
A $30 service fee will be charged for any checks returned for any reason; you will be responsible for this fee and the amount of the returned check. We retain the right to refuse checks as a form of payment in the future.
Our office will make every effort to communicate with you regarding your account and will present reasonable options for payment. In the event the bill goes unpaid for 90 days without communication with our billing department to discuss payment options, the account will be turned over to our collection agency. No additional appointments for delinquent accounts will be made until they are brought current.
For any further questions or to make a payment please contact our billing department (623) 561-5437 option 6 or (623) 556-5437 option 7
Scheduling Policies:
A parent or legal guardian must accompany patient unless prior written authorization has been given to our office. Any Adult accompanying the minor is required to comply with our payment policies.
We require you to notify us when scheduling an appointment if any of the following has changed: Change of address, phone numbers, emergency contacts, and insurance. This will help avoid any unnecessary delays in your child's care.
If you have a preference to a specific provider in our practice, we ask that you inform our scheduling department when making your appointment. If a specific provider is not requested we will schedule your child with our first available provider.
We strongly advise against “walk-ins” and “add-ons” due to the strain it puts on our providers and scheduling department. If either of these situations occurs, we will do our best to accommodate the patient. It is not guaranteed that an appointment will be available due to the fact that we honor our scheduled appointments first.
Due to the high demands for appointments, missed appointments prevent us from scheduling appropriately and keep others in need of urgent care from being seen. We will allow up to 15 minutes late for an appointment, anything after the 15 minutes will be considered a “No Show”.
Divorce Policy:
The providers and staff of Arrowhead Pediatrics is here to take care of children. Our focus is on the medical, psychological and emotional health of your child(ren) – NOT legal issues involving divorce, separation, or custody agreements.
Please make decisions regarding vaccinating your child(ren), circumcision, reproductive education, etc. prior to visiting our practice.
Either parent or legal guardian can schedule an appointment for their child, be present for the visit, and/or obtain a copy of the visit summary. Unless there is a court order in the child’s record that restricts a parent’s rights, please do not ask us to limit the other parent’s involvement in your child’s care.
Payment (co-payments, deductibles, etc.) is due at the time of service regardless of which parent is responsible for medical coverage. We are not a party to your divorce agreement. We will collect payment due from the parent who brings the child to the visit. If the divorce decree requires the other parent to pay all or part of the treatment costs, it is the authorizing parent’s responsibility to collect from the other parent.
Both parents/legal guardians can sign an “Authorization for Medical Care” form. This means other persons (grandparents, nannies, etc.) are authorized to bring your child to our practice, and can consent for treatment during that visit. We will NOT be involved in any disputes regarding named individuals on your child(ren)’s authorization form. Both parents/legal guardians can see who is named on each other’s forms; however, we will not comply with requests to eliminate names on the other’s form, unless instructed by the Court. Please refer these requests to your attorney.
Additionally, we will not:
Call the other parent for consent prior to treatment or inform the other parent whenever visits are scheduled.
Restrict either parent’s/legal guardian’s involvement in your child(ren)’s care, unless authorized by law.
Tolerate appointment scheduling/cancelling patterns of behavior between parents.
It is the parents’ responsibility to communicate with each other about the patients care, office dates/visits and any other pertinent information relevant to the care of the child. Please do not ask our providers to call the non-attending parent following visits.
Should the issues that come between parents become disruptive to our practice or impede the care of children, we reserve the right to discharge your family from further treatment.
Medical Records Policies:
All basic medical records require at least 48-72 hours to be completed.
This includes:
-School forms
-Prescription refills
-Immunization books
-Copies of immunization records
Chronic condition/FMLA forms require 1 week for completion.
Full medical records require a minimum of 2 weeks to be completed.
This includes:
Complete copy of ALL records that we have on file.
**Medical records may be subject to a fee. Please contact our medical records department for further details.
Triage Policies:
Please be advised that all medical advice passed on to the patient does go through our providers to ensure you get the most accurate information. Please keep in mind that returned calls may take until the end of the business day.
For all prescription refill requests other than ADD/ ADHD medications, please contact your pharmacy and they will fax us over the request. Prescription refills may take up to 48 hours and require that the patient is current on their well cares.