Please call 210.614.1234 and follow the prompts for scheduling to make an appointment. If your primary care physician asks you to call us for an appointment, please do so as soon as possible, especially if you are told to schedule yourself for a specific procedure. When making your initial appointment, please explain your needs to our scheduler. Our scheduler is qualified to answer your questions and will give you the next available appointment. You will be asked for insurance information at this time.
Please see this form for information on our appointment cancellation policy.
Regular office hours are Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Our doctors have individual office hours; the scheduler will outline these to you when you contact us to schedule an appointment at
210.614.1234 or Request Appointment.
Please arrive at least 20 to 30 minutes prior to your initial visit. This allows you time to fill out the necessary forms pertaining to your medical and personal information. If you received a packet in the mail prior to your first visit, we ask that you take the time to fill out the forms as completely as possible and bring them with you at the time of your visit. You may also download these forms on our patient forms page. Please remember to bring your current insurance information and driver’s license or photo identification with you.
If you have previous medical records dealing with the reason you are being referred, please arrange to have those records forwarded to our office from your referring physician as early as possible or, better yet, bring copies with you, especially if your initial appointment is less than one week away. Failure to provide previous laboratory and x-ray results makes it difficult for our doctors to make accurate decisions about your care and may result in unnecessary delay in your evaluation.
At the time of each visit to our office, but especially during the first visit, please bring a list of medications you are taking, including any over-the-counter drugs and those prescribed by other physicians. It is important for your doctor to be aware of your medications, particularly to help prevent a possible drug interaction.
Your family and friends are always welcome in our office. Your appointment, however, is generally a private meeting between you and your physician, but you are certainly free to have a family member or close friend accompany you when you meet with the doctor. Procedure visits do not allow for family members to be present in the procedure area.
One of our doctors is on call 24 hours a day every day. If you have an urgent problem during office hours, please call the office for instructions: 210.614.1234. You may be instructed to come to the office or go directly to the emergency room. After hours and on weekends you may call the same office number 210.614.1234. The telephone will be answered by our answering service. Please identify yourself and explain your problem to them. They, in turn, will relay the message to the doctor on call for emergencies who will return your call as soon as possible.
The doctor-patient relationship is a private one. For this reason, we do not provide information to others about our patients without their prior written consent. Due to the large number of telephone calls daily, it is impossible for the physician to personally talk to each patient. If you have questions regarding insurance or billing, your call will be directed to one of our staff who specializes in that area. If your call is about a medical problem or question, it will be directed to one of our nurses who will speak with you or return your call in a timely fashion. If the nurse cannot answer your question, it will be directed to your doctor.
Prescription refills are performed via a fax from the pharmacies. All are addressed before the end of the work day. It is not our policy to prescribe new medications over the telephone. Please plan ahead if you need your prescription refilled. Have the pharmacy fax a refill request to our office at 210.614.0952. Please avoid calling for refills in the evening or during the weekend as the on-call doctor will not have access to your medical records to determine if a refill is necessary.
You can now request medication refills via our patient portal.
We know waiting is not easy, but different tests take different periods of time to process. It is our policy to discuss your results face-to-face with you at a follow-up office visit where all of your questions can be appropriately answered. However, at times your physician may decide to either write or call you with the results if a follow-up visit is not necessary. You can now request your test results via our patient portal.
Your medical records are extremely confidential, the contents of which will be released only upon your prior authorization. If you visit another physician or move out of town, we will be happy to forward copies of your medical records upon your request, as per HIPAA regulations. Release of information forms are available from our staff. Extra insurance forms, additional medical records, correspondence to outside agencies, etc., will require an extra fee because of the paperwork and time involved.
Our commitment includes delivering the very best medical care while trying to maintain cost by recognizing the need to limit services to only those that are necessary for each individual patient.
Charges for office visits and procedures are determined by the severity and complexity of the underlying problem. In general, our fees are comparable to other similarly trained specialists in the community. We are happy to discuss our fees with you any time and, in fact, encourage you to inquire as to the charge before service is rendered.
Co-payments, deductibles, or any uncovered services are your responsibility and are expected to be paid at the time of service. We accept assignment on Medicare patients. If you do not have health insurance to cover your visit, please discuss payment with our financial coordinator. For your convenience we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and Care Credit. For more information about Care Credit, visit the following website https://www.carecredit.com/.
The fees for care during hospitalization and for specialized procedures can be paid on a mutually agreeable basis. We file insurance claims for those plans in which our physicians are preferred providers. If you have secondary insurance, please notify us at the time of your visit, and we will be more than happy to also file your secondary insurance claim.
You will receive a monthly statement detailing the balance on your account. Please let us know if you are having financial difficulties – you will find us compassionate and understanding and willing to work with you to set up a payment plan.
If management of your health problem requires that you be sent to a laboratory, x-ray, or hospital facility, please know which facility your insurance requires us to use. Also, remember that you will be receiving a separate bill for those services, i.e., radiology, pathology, etc.
Endoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure usually performed under sedation. Due to the sedation given during the procedure, please make arrangements to bring someone with you that can safely drive you home. You will not be permitted to take a taxi cab, public transportation or drive yourself upon your departure if you have received sedatives.
If you have not registered with the new gPortal yet please select the Register/Learn More button for instructions on registering.
Please note that your current /old patient portal credentials will become inactive after August 31, 2022, so update your account today to avoid any disruption in accessibility.
