Our physicians no longer go to any hospitals for newborn visits. Banner Thunderbird and Del Webb have hospitalists who will see your newborn daily until discharge. You will be asked to follow up with your pediatrician 2-3 days after discharge. We have same day appointments available for newborns so call for an appointment after discharge from the hospital.

We do what we call a "Meet and Greet" at our office for expecting parents at no charge. They are scheduled with our Practice Manager and the providers will come in briefly during that time. Please call our office to make arrangements.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, medical identity theft takes place when someone uses another person's identity as their own (example: name, social security number, or health insurance information) without that person's consent or knowledge. They may use the information to obtain supplies or medical services. They may also use the person's identity to make false claims for medical supplies or services. For this reason, the Federal Trade Commission enacted the Red Flag Rules to help protect your identity. We comply with this law by checking your photo ID at check in.

The federal government has enacted a new law called "Red Flag rules". In order to meet the requirements for this new law, we have implemented checking ID's at each appointment. This will allow us to help protect you from insurance/identity theft.

This allows us to do a secondary check that you are in fact the person on file. If someone tries to use your identity, chances are, they will use a different address than the real one. Therefore, it allows us to take that extra step to protect your identity. If your ID does not have a current address, you can bring in a utility bill with your current address so we can match the name and the address we have on file (which should be current).

We are required to have current signatures on file for insurance billing, as well as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In order to meet these standards, signatures must be no more than one year old. Furthermore, we have found that patients believe their information is current, but once they fill out the paperwork, they realize they had forgotten about a change that had actually occurred during the year.

Our office policy is to collect the copay prior to your appointment so that no bill will be necessary. Furthermore, it will eliminate the need for you to have to remain in the office once your appointment is over. It allows you to get on with your day.

Some insurance plans set an amount of money that the insured would need to pay before any benefits from the health insurance policy can be used. This amount is set on a yearly basis (depending on when your policy became effective), which means that you will have to pay a new deductible amount the next year. For example, if you have a $500 deductible, you would need to pay a total of $500 out of pocket before your insurance will start paying on your account.

A copay is a fixed amount your insurance requires you to pay your doctor each time you receive a certain service. Some insurance companies will have different copays for different services. For example, you might have a $20 copay for a doctor visit and a $50 copay for an Urgent Care visit.

This is also known as "percentage participation". Basically, your insurance company agrees to pay a certain percentage of your health care bills, and they expect you pay the remaining percentage. For example, many insurance companies will pay 80% of your bill and will require you to pay the remaining 20%. That 20% is your coinsurance.