Office Information
Please click on the links below to get more information about our practice.
Office Hours * Phone System * Prescription Refills * Referrals * Forms and Letters * Camp, Work, and School Physical Forms * Scheduling Appointments with Our Providers * Preoperative Physicals * Billing * Worker's Comp * Motor Vehicle Accidents * Medical Records * Scheduling of Specialty Appointments * No Shows for Scheduled Appointments * Delinquent Accounts
Office Hours
Our office hours are Monday through Thursday from 8:30 A.M. until 4:45 P.M. and Fridays from 8:30 A.M. until 4:00 P.M.
Saturday 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Location of Saturday hours rotates between Alder Brook and Winooski Family Health and Charlotte Family Health. Our answering service will direct you to the appropriate option on the weekend if you need to be seen.
We are available to you 24 hours per day. If you need urgent clinical advice outside of normal business hours, please call the office and the answering service will page the on-call provider. Your calls will be returned with 30 minutes unless the provider is involved in an emergency. If that is the case, they will return your call as soon as they are available.
For patients needing clinical advice during normal business hours we are committed to returning your calls by the end of the business day you call.
For patients needing to be seen urgently, we provide same day appointments. Routine physicals are scheduled within 90 days of the request. Post-hospitalization follow up appointments are scheduled within 7 days. Our staff work very hard to meet your special requests so please let us know what your needs are.
Phone System
You can reach Alder Brook Family Health at (802) 872-7100. We utilize prescription and referral voice mail to decrease phone wait times. Remember that the receptionists will be transferring you to the appropriate voice mail lines to accommodate your needs. If you do reach our auto-attendant, it means our receptionists are temporarily occupied. You may access voice mail by dialing the following extensions:
Dial 2 for prescription refills
Dial 3 for referrals
Dial 4 for nursing questions
Stay on the line for a receptionist.
After hours you may dial 9 to reach our answering service who will page the on call physician if you have an urgent medical problem.
Prescription Refills
We have instituted a new refill policy which you can read by clicking here.
In summary, we will send prescriptions electronically within three business days and we will prepare written prescriptions within four business days. Please notify us if you need a more urgent refill. We require office visits at least yearly to fill your prescriptions. Starting September 1, 2009, we will begin charging $5.00 for more than three written prescriptions unless they are written at an office visit. We encourage you to bring your prescriptions bottles to your office visits and to request refills at your office visits. Reviewing your prescriptions in detail at office visits ensures accuracy and high quality medical care.
Referrals
Please leave all referral information on the appropriate voice mail. If you have a clinical problem and wish a referral specialist without seeing your primary provider, you must speak with the nurse before leaving a message on the referral voice mail. The nurse will help you determine whether you need an office visit with your primary care provider. Please allow two weeks for referral processing unless there are emergency circumstances.
Forms and Letters
If you have a complex form that needs to be filled out, we would prefer to have you bring the form in at an office visit. This allows the provider to obtain all of the relevant information and submit the forms in a timely fashion. If you have forms that do not require an office visit, please allow 2 weeks for form completion. There will be a fee for form completion, which may not be covered by your insurance. The fee schedule will vary based upon the complexity of the form. The fees will range from $5.00 to $25.00.
Camp, Work, and School Physical Forms
Work Physical forms require you to have had a physical within 12 months. School and camp forms usually require physicals within 2 years and up-to-date immunizations. Please try to anticipate these needs in advance. We are often booked three months in advance for physicals.
Scheduling Appointments with Our Providers
We try very hard to accomodate your needs. Our nurses are all very experienced and will help triage your call to determine how promptly you should be seen. They may direct you to an emergency room if the situation seems very urgent or your are in need of x-rays immediately.
Preoperative Physicals
We perform preoperative examinations as requested by the surgeons, but please note that your insurance may not cover these examinations if there you do not have a specific medical problem. You must check with your insurance company to ensure coverage. Preoperative examinations must be performed within one month of your scheduled surgery. Please call our office to schedule your appointment as soon as you have your surgical date.
Billing
We are contracted with a billing company called M.B.A. Resources. They are a locally owned and operated company with extensive billing experience. They will be available to answer your billing questions. Their phone number will be on your statements. We do expect payment promptly for our services. We participate with many of the insurance companies, including MVP, Blue Cross, Cigna, Health Care Value System, Tricare, Medicaid, PCP, Medicare and others. There are some insurances that we do not specifically contract with and you may need to pay for your visit at the time of service and submit your form to the insurance company.
Worker's Comp
We will bill your company's worker's comp carrier, but you must provide us with the information at the time of service.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
We require payment at the time of service, although we will help you submit your forms to the appropriate insurance companies.
Medical Records
There are copying fees if you need records transferred to another provider. We will either copy the records ourselves or employ a medical record copying firm. The fees are small and cover the expense of copying your files.
Scheduling of Specialty Appointments
We allow you to schedule your own appointments with specialists, so they are convenient for you. Make sure your referrals are called in to our referral line promptly. If your provider feels that you need tests, such as x-rays, ultrasounds, or MRIs, we will schedule the appointment for you and notify you by phone or email within 72 hours. Please be sure that you notify us if you will be away or unavailable during certain time periods.
No Shows for Scheduled Appointments
We reserve the right to charge a $25.00 no show fee if you do not call us at least 24 hours in advance to cancel your appointment.
Delinquent Accounts
If your account has been sent to collections for not paying your bill, you are not allowed to schedule routine visits unless the account balance is paid at the time of service. You may avoid this problem by requesting payment plans if you know you are unable to pay your bill when you receive it in the mail. You may contact the billing service at the number on your bill in order to discuss a payment plan.