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When you call our office, the following message is what you will hear after you get through the initial prompt if you are calling to speak
to a doctor or for an appointment. Please listen carefully to the following, and if the receptionist interrupts, it is a very good idea to read this
text. You may also ask for a print copy in the waiting room.
- We attempt to get our urgent and semi-urgent patients seen in the office within 2-3 hours of your call.
- We do not over-schedule, but due to unforeseeable medical and other circumstances, we may get up to 60 minutes behind in the Physician Assistant schedule, especially during the peak hours, 10-2 and 5-7.
- When given an appointment by the receptionist, realize that she is giving you the scheduled time, and ask what the approximate delay might be. Note the receptionist's name.
- If there is a thirty-minute delay, plan to arrive 20 minutes later than the scheduled appointment! Allow 10 minutes for check-in.
- We also list delays on our website www.yafferuden.com, where we have the only know medical ONTIME BUTTON in the world!
- Peak phone volume occurs on Monday mornings and during lunch hours. If you are calling with non-urgent lab questions, prescriptions, and other non-urgent requests please call back when the receptionists will be
better able to handle your concerns.
- Be aware of our late cancellation and no-show fee! Managed care has forced us to be as efficient as possible. Give us enough time (3 working hours) to attempt to fill your appointment. We have no desire to
charge $70 for a 15-minute visit missed appointment or $140 for a 30-minute missed appointment. Call if there is a potential problem and we will try to work with you to rearrange the schedule to accommodate
emergency situations.
- Please attempt to schedule with your same doctor for a physical or for an ongoing problem. We want continuity of care. You may ask for a specific PA when you are escorted to the exam room.
- We expect payment at the time of service and by contract, must ask for your co-pay. We accept credit and debit cards.
- Please bring your insurance card.
- During a short PA visit, please focus on ONE MAJOR ISSUE during that visit. If you need a more extensive evaluation or have multiple issues, we will draw blood and begin the workup, and we will organize a more
comprehensive follow-up with one of our board-certified internists within a week.
- For same-day visits, you will be seen by one of our excellent PAs along with one of our excellent internists. Expect to leave the office about 30 minutes after you have been taken in for a short visit, and about
55 minutes after a physical.
- Realize that if you need urgent consultations, x-rays, labs, etc. it is best to get in before 2 PM so that these can be organized while you are in the office.
- If you expect that you might need to leave a urine specimen during your visit, notify the receptionist upon arrival. This will save you a few minutes at the end of your visit and satisfy your immediate bladder
needs.
- Dr. Yaffe performs endoscopies and colonoscopies every AM in the office during which time we have an anesthesiologist with us in the office.
- Except in unusual circumstances, Dr. Yaffe is performing his 60 weekly physicals in the afternoons; thus, there is a few months' wait for routine physicals. He does have relatively immediate availability for GI
consultations and procedures. Please inquire about getting on the cancellation list for Dr. Yaffe, as well as for Dr. Ruden, for routine physicals.
- If you find yourself waiting, and the Internet access, TV, and magazine selections are unacceptable options, inquire about eye doctor, x-ray, bone density and dermatology availability. Sometimes these can be
done on the spot while you are waiting.
- Note that we have limited Saturday AM office hours between Labor Day and Memorial Day
- So what is the ideal scenario for this call? You call from work at 11 AM with a severe sore throat. You get through to a receptionist within a few minutes, get an appointment at 1 PM, with approximately a
30-minute suspected delay. You leave the office at 1:03, get the elevator quickly, find an air-conditioned (heated in cold months) cab, which is just dropping off someone not wearing heavy perfume. The cab-drive
finds a traffic free route, and you arrive at 1:20. After checking in, you are taken at 1:25, see your PA of choice, get treated well and pleasantly, and check out at 1:45, with samples in hand. You step out and
find a waiting cab, which whisks you back to your office at 2 PM. You arrive at your desk at 2:03, feeling much improved, with a renewed sense of confidence in the world and, as you settle into your chair, your
boss comes in and announces that you have gotten a promotion. We would like this to be the usual occurrence.
- It is important to have appropriate expectations! We try to practice good medicine, but imperfect circumstances often get in the way of perfect timing!
- The YaffeRuden online quiz, where you can win a limited edition popcorn fork, covers much of this material!
- Please give us feedback, good and bad.
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