Patient Policies
PURISIMA FAMILY MEDICINE PATIENT POLICIES
Appointment times
We request that you call ahead to schedule an appointment and arrive at least 15 MINUTES BEFORE your scheduled appointment time so you can be checked in and ready to see the provider at the time of your appointment. If you arrive late, you may be asked to reschedule your appointment or, if you are seen that day, you will have to be worked in so that we do not inconvenience the patients who arrived on time.
"No Show" appointments
If you are unable to make your appointment, please call and cancel/reschedule no later than 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment. If you are unable to keep your appointment and you don’t call to cancel in advance, we are unable to schedule another patient in your time slot. If you do not call to cancel your appointment in advance or if you are late, (this is also considered a missed appointment), a $75.00 fee will be charged to you for a missed appointment. This fee must be paid before scheduling another appointment.
Medication refills
To request a medication refill, contact your pharmacy, who will send our office a prescription refill request. Medication refill request must be received at least ONE WEEK prior to the date needed. You must be seen and evaluated by a provider so we have a medical record established prior to prescribing any medication. Purisima Family Medicine reserves the right not to refill certain medications without seeing the patient in our office.
Controlled substances
We will not prescribe chronic narcotics, benzodiazepines, or other controlled substances at the first clinic visit. Requests for refills for controlled substances will only be considered during regular office hours. During the weekend or at night, the on call physician will not refill these types of medications. We do not mail prescriptions for controlled substances. All patients on chronic narcotic or benzodiazepine therapy prescribed by our clinic will be asked to sign a controlled substance contract. Breech of this contract will result in discontinuation of all controlled substances.
After-hours access to a doctor
As your healthcare provider, we understand that you may need medical assistance during the hours the clinic is closed. We recommend patients who need to be seen after hours go to the Urgent Care Clinic at Mills Health Center, 100 S. San Mateo Drive in San Mateo. No appointment is needed, wait times can be checked at http://www.pamf.org/urgent-care/san-mateo/ or call (650) 696-4427. Our providers are on call for medical emergency advice. Please do not call the on-call number for appointments, prescription refills, or any non-emergency situations. If you feel you are in need of emergent evaluation, please go to the nearest hospital with emergency services or call 911.
Paperwork
Your provider may ask you to make an appointment or pay an extra fee to have certain forms or letters filled out. Work excuses will not be provided for an acute illness unless you are seen in our clinic during the time of the illness. Please allow up to TWO WEEKS for the doctor to complete any paperwork.
Adolescent Care
In general we require that a parent or guardian accompany all minors less than 18 years of age to all appointments. Exceptions to this will be made on a case by case basis, and only with advanced approval by the health practitioner.
Childhood Vaccinations
We recommend all childhood vaccines to be given on the routine schedule recommended by American Academy of Pediatrics and Family Medicine. If families choose not to fully vaccinate their children on the routine schedule, we consider those children to be at a higher risk for illnesses and therefore not suitable for our general medicine family practice. Children who are under vaccinated will need to transfer care to a pediatrician.
Daniel McMillan M.D. Jill Pavliscak M.D