It is crucial when choosing a pediatric practice for your children that you have given serious consideration to the fit between the practice philosophies and your own. Excellent care happens when the physician and office staff are aligned with your family priorities and philosophies regarding medical care. Only then can shared decision-making be based on mutual respect.
Please read the following over carefully to be sure Denise Wolken MD Pediatrics is the appropriate medical home for your children. We look forward to meeting you and forming a mutually rewarding relationship.
Benefits of a Solo Practitioner
In this practice, every appointment is made with Dr. Denise Wolken allowing a personal relationship to be built between the patient, the family, and the pediatrician. As your child grows, they are followed by their same pediatrician who knows their history as well as their personality. Also, every phone message, portal message, referral, specialist note and test is reviewed by your chosen pediatrician.
As a solo practitioner, Dr Wolken is able to provide personalized care in the office and she is also part of a 5 pediatrician call-coverage group, so your child's medical needs are taken care of by a board certified pediatrician 24/7/365. If Dr Wolken is not in town, she has back up that will give your child the same high quality pediatric care.
Medical Home
We work hard to provide comprehensive medical care and serve as your medical home. To that end, we expect that you contact our office FIRST before seeking specialty care, or heading to another provider for urgent care. We want to be involved in either providing care in our office where appropriate, or referring you to the most appropriate specialist and helping to coordinate your care. Whenever you do see a specialist, we ask that you request a report be sent directly to our office so we may stay informed and have the most up-to-date information in your medical record.
Technology
Our practice prides itself on efficiency through use of technology. You will be encouraged to consult our website for information in the Patient Education AAP Library and register for and use our patient portal. Our patient portal has a message center that connects directly to the doctor or front office staff. If you have a non-urgent question about your child that you think of during or after work hours, you are encouraged to send it in the patient portal and the doctor or staff member will message you your answer in return. Starting in March 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, we started offering Telemedicine visits for appointments in a HIPPA compliant online room. It is part of our effort to keep patients and staff safe from COVID- 19 . Our smooth adoption and integration of telemedicine visits into our schedule allows us to virtually extend our medical home to yours.
Vaccines
Our vaccine policy follows the schedule outlined by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). We believe the single most important preventative medical intervention is vaccines. We are happy at any well visit to discuss vaccines, the science behind vaccines, your questions, and our recommendations. Our goal is to work with you, not against you. We recognize that the choice to vaccinate may be an emotional one for some parents, but as we feel so strongly about this issue. We do not accept patients whose parents refuse all vaccines. As a result, if your immunization philosophy differs from our view, we would ask that you choose another medical office for your child that aligns with your preferences and shares your medical philosophy.
Antibiotics
We work hard to not overuse antibiotics. We educate families on appropriate use of antibiotics, but follow evidence-based guidelines and don’t automatically treat ear pain or a green snotty nose with antibiotics. We do not routinely prescribe antibiotics over the phone as we do not believe that is good medicine. We will prescribe an antibiotic when we believe it is an appropriate treatment.
Office Hours
We make every effort to meet the needs of our patients, we schedule both routine well visits and sick visit appointments during traditional business hours on Monday through Thursday. We highly recommend you call ahead to schedule an appointment. We see same day sick visits on all weekdays including Fridays. On Fridays, please call in the morning if your child needs to be seen that day. Please familiarize yourself with our office hours to see if they work for your family.
After Hours
If a non-emergency problem arises after office hours, you may call our office and leave a message with our answering service who will have a pediatric nurse return your call. The nurse will give you advice on the management of your child's problem and help you decide if or when you need to seek additional medical care. If the nurse determines that your concern is urgent she may refer you directly to your nearest hospital emergency room or she may contact our physician on call for additional instructions.
Insurance
Make sure we participate with your insurance plan. Click here to see insurance information. It is your responsibility to know the limits and coverage of your particular health insurance policy, to show your cards to us at each visit, and be prepared to pay any co-pays at the time of service. Our Office Administrator will do her best to assist you with insurance questions; however, if you have questions about your coverage, it is best to check with your specific insurance company. Our office does not want you to be surprised by a bill, but we must always bill your health plan based on federal guidelines and the actual services provided.
Billing and Fees
Insurance co-pays are expected to be paid at the time of service. If you are unable to comply, you must work with our office prior to the visit to set up a payment plan.
Credit Card on File
Denise Wolken MD Pediatrics is committed to making our billing process as simple and easy as possible. We ask that all patients provide a credit card on file with our office. We will scan your card with a card reader. It will store your card number in a secure location in your electronic medical record. For security reasons, only the last four digits will be visible to our staff. Credit cards on file may be used to pay co-pays when you are seen in our office, including account balances after your insurance processes your claim.
Scheduling Appointments
Please call our office number 315-991-4180 to schedule appointments. We do our best to accommodate same day sick appointments for our patients, but recommend chronic medical condition appointments be made in advance to best accommodate your and the physician’s schedules. Sometimes an appointment may not be needed. For questions and concerns about whether an appointment is needed, please leave a message and Dr Wolken or one of her staff will return your call.
Well visits may be scheduled up to 3-6 months in advance. Call during routine office hours to schedule these appointments.
Timeliness & Missed Appointments
We gladly reserve appointment times for you and appreciate that you have chosen Denise Wolken MD Pediatrics for your care. As a courtesy, we will remind you of your appointment by calling you prior to your scheduled date and time. If we cannot speak directly to you, we will leave a message. However, in the event your mailbox is full or your line is busy, our efforts to contact you may be unsuccessful. An appointment is a contract of time reserved for your treatment. We respect our patients’ valuable time and we request the same courtesy from our patients. Please extend this courtesy should you need to cancel and/or reschedule your appointment. We reserve the right to charge $25 for regular appointments cancelled or broken without advance notice of 24 hours. After three (3) “no shows” we reserve the right to discharge your family from our practice.
We ask that you arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time (to allow time for parking, check-in, updating your insurance info, etc.). We understand sometimes things happen beyond your control that may cause you to be late. However, we reserve the right to ask you to reschedule if you arrive late for your appointment.