WHY HAS MY PEDIATRICIAN BEEN SO BUSY?

There have been a number of things that have changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

AT HOME:

Birth rates have increased since 2020. The last time there was an increase in the number of births was 2014. That means a lot more babies for us to care for!
Daycares, schools, camps and other institutions are requiring a doctor’s note almost any time a child has a fever. This has resulted in a drastic increase in the number of phone calls and sick visits needed.
Everyone is playing catch up with sports physicals, annual check ups and vaccines needed for school.
Anxiety and depression have increased by over 30% in kids of all ages in the last 2 years. The need for mental health appointments has skyrocketed.
RSV, influenza and other viral illnesses are at an all time high and we are seeing these illnesses earlier in the season than normal.

IN THE OFFICE:

Precautions for the safety of our patients and families take longer. We are committed to maintaining this standard of sterilization and cleanliness.
There has been a tremendous increase in phone time and portal messages by staff and providers due to the increase in the number of appointments needed, questions asked by parents and communicating results.
The amount of paperwork required for staff to fill out for schools, daycares, etc. has increased. In most cases, this requires a patient to be seen in our clinic.
As soon as the COVID vaccine became available for the pediatric population, we have seen an increase in the number of vaccine appointments requested by our families.
Our office has often been understaffed due to our employees having to care for themselves and their families.

WHAT HASN’T CHANGED

We are still here for you and your children! Our focus continues to be quality, comprehensive care for our patients.

BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP.

Please bring positivity and patience to your appointments. We ask that you respect our office policies and understand many of our policies are in place for patient safety and quality reasons.

Please come on time and be prepared for your appointments…complete any pre-work such as developmental and other CHADIS screening questionnaires; complete self check-in so you can verify demographics such as address, phone number and insurance as well as take care of any outstanding balance you may have.

Please sign up for the patient portal so that you can communicate with our office and obtain medical history, lab results and immunization records.

PHREESIA'S APPOINTMENT ACCELERATOR

Cancelled and rescheduled appointments are a normal part of daily life in any medical practice. We know that many of you might be interested in securing an earlier day/ time for your appointment if you could. However, filling those vacant appointment slots on short notice can be a challenge for our staff. To be able to systematically open those vacant slots up to you, we are now using a new system called Appointment Accelerator to help us fill those appointments left open when patients cancel or reschedule and to also help us reschedule missed appointments.

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS

1. OFFER EARLIER APPOINTMENTS

If we have an opening in our schedule due to a cancellation or rescheduling, we will text eligible patients with existing appointments the option to move their appointment up into that earlier vacant appointment slot. If you want the earlier appointment, just be the first to reply with the word in quotes and our system will automatically reschedule your appointment to that new day/time. If the new day/time doesn’t work for you, just ignore the message, and keep your original appointment.

2. RESCHEDULE MISSED APPOINTMENTS

We realize things happen and sometimes you must miss a scheduled appointment. If you miss an appointment, we will automatically text you afterwards and offer two new appointment opportunities. Text back the number beside the appointment you prefer, and you will be automatically rescheduled!

This new system gives you the opportunity to take advantage of appointments that may be more desirable to you while helping us continue to be as efficient as possible.