THINGS TO KNOW FOR YOUR UPCOMING VISIT:
We have partnered with CHADIS to allow us to have all of those important developmental and mental health screenings completed PRIOR to your visit to minimize your time in the office and having to touch pens/paper! Completing these advanced tools PRIOR to your visit allows us to have them scored and ready to discuss with you at the visit. You can log in to your patient portal up to 2 weeks in advance of your appointment to complete all screenings. CHADIS forms are done at every well visit and some other visit types as well. A step by step guide on how to access these forms:
**PLEASE NOTE EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2020
It has been brought to our attention that your insurance company may begin to pass on copays and deductibles to the patients for visits that occur early morning, evenings, weekends and federal holidays that we are open. The state of Maryland defines these “after hour” appointments as those that are scheduled before 8am or after 6pm Monday-Friday and all weekend appointments. Not all insurance plans/packages are doing this but we will have no way of knowing which insurance plans will push this cost to the member until we bill the claim. We recognize that these appointment times are ideal for many families and we will continue to be open 7 days a week to accommodate our families needs but please note when you are scheduling appointments during these flexible times that there may be an additional cost to you because of your insurance benefits.
Our Vaccine Policy
We feel very strongly that vaccinating children on schedule with currently available vaccines is absolutely the right thing to do for all children and young adults. We also offer vaccines to our parents and caretakers (ask the staff or pricing) because we feel it is important to make sure we keep the adults healthy too!We are committed to protecting all of our patients and staff and that is why we are committed to this policy.
WE REQUIRE ALL PATIENTS TO HAVE THEIR VACCINES PER THE AAP and CDC IMMUNIZATION SCHEDULE BY A CERTAIN AGE TO REMAIN IN THE PRACTICE. While our providers will work with you on specific timeframe of administration, we will NOT allow patients in our practice who will not vaccinate their children for all required vaccines.
Other Policies
* Please arrive early for your appointment. If you are even 5 minutes late for your appointment time, we may have to reschedule your appointment. We try hard to accommodate patients who are late as we understand that sometimes circumstances can’t be avoided, but if a patient arrives late for their appointment the doctors will be late for the next patients. If you are the last evening appointment of the day (6:30p or 6:40p) on our late days and you arrive more than 5 minutes late we will have to reschedule your appointment.
**You will receive a text message confirmation of the appointment if you have provided us with a cell phone number.
***Please complete all paperwork that was emailed to you ahead of time and bring with you to the visit or email back to us at rockvillestaff@childrenfirstpediatrics.com for appointments in our Rockville location or silverspringstaff@childrenfirstpediatrics.com for appointments in our Silver Spring location to minimize your wait time in our reception area.
****Please bring any medications, prescription bottles, asthma devices and any other pertinent equipment with you to every visit to make the most of your visit.
*****Questionnaires and Screenings including the Teen Depression and Anxiety Screening; Hearing; Vision; Lead and Hemoglobin tests may not be covered by your insurance. These are screenings done at certain ages at the well visit for and is an important standard of care.
******For Teen Visits parents will not be present in the exam room for the entire visit. The provider is more than happy to talk to you before seeing your child or after but please let the nurses know you would like to have that discussion. For well visits, the providers will ask to speak with you to go over the visit but understand that certain parts of teen visits are confidential between your teen and the provider and will only be disclosed to you if the teen consents.
*******If you are a new patient, please make sure you bring a complete set of medical records from your previous practice with you or send in to us before the visit. We may have to reschedule your visit if we do not have medical records.
********If your appt is by Televisit with a provider please make sure you receive the link 1-2 days before the visit. If you have not received the link, please call the office. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE TIME OF YOUR APPT TO CALL. We send out the link by text at least the day before if not sooner.
SCHEDULE OF PHYSICAL EXAMINATIONS AND IMMUNIZATIONS
As your child starts his or her life, we are dedicated to do all we can to help your child grow healthy and strong. We ask that you as the parent help us to achieve this goal by promptly scheduling your child for all of his or her well child checkups. Our schedule is open 4 months in advance to allow you to schedule what is convenient for you. Our staff will help remind you when you are due to schedule. We hope that by providing you with the following exam schedule, we can help to better prepare both you and your child for their future visits with us
2-5 days old, 1 wk and 2wk visits: PKU may be done These visits are billed as preventative visits but if you have lactation with these visits your insurance may charge a copay for the lactation part of the visit.**if breastfeeding we encourage you to set up an appointment with our Lactation Consultant at the first visit**
1 Month visit: Physical Examination
2 Month: Physical Examination and vaccines: DTaP, Polio, HiB, Hep B, Prevnar 13 and Rotavirus
4 Month Visit: Physical Examination and vaccines: DTaP, Polio, HiB, Hep B Prevnar 13 and Rotavirus
6 Month Visit: Physical Examination and vaccines: DTaP, Polio, Hib, Prevnar 13 and Hep B., developmental screenings
9 Month Visit: Physical Examination only.
12 Month Visit (must be scheduled on or after 1 yr birthday): Physical Examination and vaccines: MMR, Varivax (chicken pox),Hep A, Prevnar 13, Lead, Hemoglobin, developmental screenings
15 Month Visit: Physical Examination and vaccines: HIB, Prevnar 13 (if not given at the 12 months visit), developmental screenings
18 Month Visit (must be scheduled no less than 6 months from the 1 yr visit): Physical Examination and vaccines: DTaP, Hep A, developmental screenings
2 Year Visit: Physical Examination, Lead, Hemoglobin, developmental screenings
2 ½ Year Visit: Physical Examination, developmental screenings
3 Year Visit: Physical Examination, developmental screenings
4-5 Year Visits (4yr visit must be scheduled on or after the birthday): Physical Examination, hearing and vision screening and vaccines: DTaP, Polio, MMR, Varivax, and PPD (tuberculin skin test). Vaccines can be given at the four or five year visit at the discretion of the parents and physicians. These vaccines must be given before the child enters kindergarten. Combo vaccines are used at this visit when available which include DTaP/Polio and MMR/Varivax.
6-10 Year Visits: Flu shot, HPV at 9yrs and 10yrs visit, screenings as needed, Baseline concussion testing strongly recommended
11 years visit: Physical Examination, hearing and vision screening and vaccines: TDaP, Meningitis and Baseline Concussion Testing strongly recommended
12yrs and older: Meningitis booster (16yrs), Men B shot (16-17yrs), Anxiety/Depression screenings, Lipid/blood testing, Baseline Concussion testing strongly recommended, other shots/screenings as needed.
Physical examinations are given yearly after the 3 year visit. Children will receive PPD testing every few years as well as routine laboratory testing.