FIVE CORNERS FAMILY PRACTICE - HealthBanks



Five Corners Family Practice

3040 Broadway, Schenectady NY 12306

(518) 357-2011 FAX (518) 357-2330

Barbara Lahey, FNP Patricia Merritt, MD Donna Tuttle, MD J. Antonio Reyes, MD

Dear Patients,

Our medical office is an appointment based Family Practice with three Board Certified Family Physicians, a Family Nurse Practitioner, Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurses, Medical Assistants, Medical Receptionists, a Billing Specialist and an Office Manager. The physicians are Dr. Patricia Merritt, Dr. J. Antonio Reyes and Dr. Donna Tuttle. The Family Nurse Practitioner is Barbara J. Lahey. The provider and support staff of this office work closely together to assure your medical needs are met in a timely and efficient manner.

Office Hours

Office staff is available Monday through Friday from 7:00 am to 5:00pm with the exception of one Friday a month from noon to 2 for an office staff and quality meeting. We are closed for all major holidays. During this time, our office phones are transferred to exchange to handle any calls that need attention. An on-call provider is available 24/7.

Appointment Schedule

Appointments are scheduled Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. All appointments are scheduled by your provider’s care team secretary. Please listen carefully if you are calling in for the appropriate option to get to the correct secretary for your team. You can use our patient portal to set up an appointment at your convenience. 24 hour notice is required for all cancellations. Failure of scheduled appointments with out 24 hour notice will result in a $50.00 charge.

The provider’s reserve time daily in their schedule for their patients whom require same day appointments due to an unforeseen acute illness. In the event your Primary Care Physician/Provider has no time available in their schedule to accommodate your needs, one of the other physicians/provider will see you for this acute visit appointment. It is recommended that you call prior to 10 am for a same day appointment. You may do this by dialing 357-2011 and pressing #2.

We encourage our patients to schedule all follow up appointments that are recommended by their Primary Care Provider after their visit. Well child visits, gynecological visits and all required wellness visits due to work, college, school and camp should be scheduled at least two months in advance to assure your Primary Care Provider (PCP) is available at a time that best fits your needs.. We make every effort to schedule you with your Primary Care Provider for your routine appointments. The only exception may be due to your Provider not being in the office for an extended period of time. It is imperative that you arrive on time for all scheduled appointments to avoid cancellation. Children under the age of 18 unaccompanied by a legal guardian at time of visit must have written permission from their legal guardian in order for them to be evaluated and treated by the physician and/or nurse practitioner. Our office staff is available between the hours of 7 and 5 Monday thru Friday with the exception of major holidays.

Co-Pays are required at the time of service. Failure to satisfy this requirement will result in a service charge of $15.00. MasterCard and Visa are accepted with a minimum payment of $25.00.

Lab work is not scheduled in our office. We make every effort to appropriately direct you to the participating facility within your plan; however, the responsibility remains with the contract holder. Patients are reminded to familiarize yourself with your insurance contract regarding participating blood draw stations and out-patient test facilities. Prescriptions/orders are given to patients to have the required testing.

Patient Forms

There is a $10.00 charge for all medical forms requiring provider completion not submitted at time of visit. Payment is due at time of form pick up.

Referrals

Your physician’s support team sets up specialty appointments/tests as ordered by our provider’s. Many specialists prefer to contact the patient directly to schedule appointments so we ask that you inform us of your scheduled appointment. Please be assured these referrals are processed as quickly as possible but may take up to a week depending on the nature of the referral. Stat or urgent referrals are scheduled immediately. All referral requirements are sent to the specialist office so they have it on file prior to your appointment date. If you need a referral renewal or have questions regarding your referral, you may contact your provider’s secretary for a status update. We make every effort to meet the requirements of your individual insurance company. However, with the ongoing changes and different guidelines for all insurances, we must remind you that if you have a concern regarding the specialist participation with your insurance, you should contact your insurance to verify and be familiar with their protocols.

TELEPHONE CALLS

Our present telephone system offers voice mail to help expedite your needs. The complete message you receive upon calling our office supply’s you with the extension numbers to appropriately direct you to the area that may best serve you. The following are telephone extensions that are used when returning calls to our staff.

Dr. Merritts Appointments/Referral/Secretary Ext.21 New Pt. Appointments Ext.22

Dr. Reyes Appointments/Referral/Secretary Ext.23 Dr. Merritt/Nurse Ext.30

Barb Lahey Appointments/Referral/SecretaryExt.23 Dr. Reyes/Nurse Ext.32

Dr. Tuttles Appointments/Referral/Secretary Ext.28 Dr. Tuttles/Nurse Ext.29

Privacy /Security Officer/Manager Ext.24 Nurse Practitioner (Barb) Nurse Ext 57

Billing Ext 34

If you are having a life threatening emergency, hang up and dial 911. If you call our office during business hours and need a same day appointment due to a medical concern, press 2. If you are calling our office after regular business hours with a medical concern that can not wait until business hours, press 7 or dial our exchange directly at 518-831-8283. You may leave a non-urgent message on our voicemail and wait for a return call during our business hours if so desired.

Please be aware that messages left before 3 pm Monday through Friday will be addressed prior to the close of that business day. Messages left after 3pm are addressed the following business day.

Patient Portal

We offer a patient portal via computer as an alternative means of communication. The secured portal offers patients the ability to request prescription refills, referrals, appointments, update demographic information, changes in medication and send a note to your provider. The patient is able to review their chart summary, lab test results obtain lab orders and receive patient education material. Patient are also able to send forms and/or reports to their provider for completion or review. Portal messages are checked on a daily basis. Never leave urgent messages on our patient portal. Please ask any of our staff members how to be part of our patient portal. You may visit our web site at to learn more.

After Hours

As a service to our patients, we do provide weekend and night coverage for emergencies and acute illnesses by a physician/provider within our office. You may contact the provider on call by calling the office main number at 518-357-2011 and press 7 or dial our exchange directly at 518-831-8283. Medication refills, referral vouchers, appointment cancellations and other non-urgent matters are not addressed by the covering physician/provider. These types of messages are best handled by the office staff during business hours when your patient record is available. Please leave a message on the appropriate voicemail. Our office protocol does not allow refills of controlled substances such as narcotics after hours.

Affiliations

Our providers are active staff members at Ellis Hospital and utilize both the pediatric and adult hospitalists.

Billing

Our billing protocols are managed within our office facility. We employ our own Billing Specialist whom works closely with our physicians and staff to assure this process is thorough and accurate. We ask that you respond to your billing statements within thirty days and keep your patient account in good status. Failure of payment for services provided may result in discharge from our practice. Our Billing Specialist will gladly discuss any concerns or questions our patients may have. You may contact her at 357-2011 x 34.

Our efforts are continuous in managing your healthcare needs. We ask our patients to take an active role in working toward a healthier well being by keeping scheduled appointments, inform your physician of any healthcare concerns and follow the treatment that has been prescribed to you.

Non-Discrimination Practices

It is the policy of this practice to ensure that our patients are not discriminated against in the delivery of healthcare services based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, medical history/condition, sexual orientation, generic information or source of payment. Any concerns can be directed to the compliance officer at 518-357-2011 x24.

Our efforts are continuous in managing your healthcare needs. We ask our patients to take an active role in working toward a healthier well being by keeping scheduled appointments, inform your physician of any healthcare concerns and follow the treatment that has been prescribed to you.

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