PRACTICE POLICIES:

Office Hours

Our office is open Mondays – Friday from 9am-4:30pm. Appointments are available till 6pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Inclement weather: Occasionally, for the safety of our patients and staff, the office may be closed due to inclement weather. If the City of Decatur schools are closed, our office will also be closed.

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Office Visits

At the time of your visit, insurance co-payments will be due and your insurance company will be subsequently billed. Any services not paid for by your insurance are your financial obligation. Each insurance has different rules regarding payment for certain services and it is not possible for us to keep up with all of the specific services under various insurance plans. If you have any questions about whether a particular procedure (lab work, radiology services, referrals) will be covered, you are encouraged to call your insurance company for details of your plan. In general, any regular medical care provided in our office is covered by most plans. Tests and labs we order may or may not be covered. It is the patient’s responsibility to know the coverage for these services.

Sick/Same-day appointments: Please call the office and make an appointment. This ensures you will be seen in a timely manner.

Missed appointments: A notice of 24 hours is appreciated to allow us to schedule another patient in the time you do not need.

Physicals: If you are going to miss a physical appointment, please allow us as much notice as possible so we can allow another patient to have that appointment time. These appointments are booked well in advance, so please understand when you cancel a physical it may take some time to get you rescheduled.

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Making an Appointment

Call the office at 404-377-9010, request an appointment through the patient portal, or email us at info@wholefamilymed.com. Appointments can be made during normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 9am – 4:30pm), or you can leave a message after hours and your call will be returned the next business day.

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Follow-up Questions

If you have a brief question regarding an issue you have previously discussed with Dr. Owen or Susan Castle, NP, a portal message or email is an appropriate means of addressing this. Non-urgent medical questions may be sent via the patient portal or email. If you want to change medication, review care in a more prolonged manner, or discuss a new problem, an office visit is warranted.

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Patient Portal

A Personal Health Record (PHR) is a record with information about your health that you may view with Internet access anywhere 24/7. www.wholefamilymed.com is a secure, HIPPA-compliant patient portal used by our patients. Your patient portal is often the best means of communication. Emails, appointment requests/cancellations, and prescription refills should be made through the portal. These messages are viewed during regular hours when we are not attending to other patients. This means that your answer may not come until the next business day. If you have a time-sensitive concern, please call the office. All lab results, lab letters, and medical notes/documentation are accessible via the patient portal once Dr. Owen or Susan has reviewed them. As personal information changes – insurance, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. – please update these in your portal, or let us know via phone or email so you do not miss important communications.

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Prescription Refills

We try to provide you with the number of refills you will need until your next office visit is due to monitor whatever condition we are treating with the prescription. So if you are out of refills, you are probably due for an appointment. However, we never want you to go without needed medications, so if you need a refill, you can reach us a few ways about this:

• You can call our office at 404-377-9010 and hit extension 2
• You can request a refill through the portal
• You can ask your pharmacy to send us a refill request
• You can email us with your prescription information

Please do not call Dr. Owen’s cell phone for refill requests.
Please allow 1 business day to get these requests processed.

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After-hours Care

Dr. Owen is available after hours should you need her. Should an emergency occur after hours, dial 911 or go to the ER immediately, then call our office. If you have a health concern after hours that is not an emergency but urgent, please call Dr. Owen’s cell phone. For non-urgent issues, please call the office and leave a message and your call will be returned the next business day.

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Nutritional Supplements

We often use nutritional supplements to maximize your health. We recommend only product lines that provide third-party verification of contents and have strict protections against contaminants. Please consider a supplement recommendation as you would a prescription. Going to a health food store and getting something “similar” is playing with fire. The supplement industry, as a whole, is not regulated and when a nutritional therapy is being used, it is critical that we know what you are really taking and that you adhere to therapy as prescribed to the best of your ability.

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Hospital Care

We do not practice hospital medicine. In the event you need to be in the hospital, you will be referred to a hospitalist service or sent to the ER to be assessed and admitted if necessary. Any time you are admitted, please let the office know so that Dr. Owen can make a courtesy call, review your chart, and offer advice and support to your care team. She will come anytime she is able and there is no charge for this visit.

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Letters, Forms, Medical Record Copies

There may be a time when you need a form completed for camp, school or work, or a letter written to your insurance company. Copies of your medical records can be sent at your request to other doctors at no charge. Many of your medical records will be posted on your patient portal and can be downloaded and printed at your convenience. If you have a specific form that needs completing, please email, fax, or drop it by. We will get to it as quickly as we can, but please allow 48 hours for completion of these requests.

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