OFFICE POLICIES

**ALL OFFICE POLICIES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE**

At All About Kids Pediatrics, we hold your child’s health and happiness in the highest regard. We want to assure you that with our multiple qualified providers, we are here to aid your family in the most collaborative way possible. Schedules can alter unexpectedly, and most sick visits are not planned. In turn, we encourage our patients to build relationships with ALL providers in our office, as your preferred provider may not always be available. Your understanding in this matter can help to deliver shorter wait times & allow improved appointment availability for all patients. Rest assured, no matter the reasoning behind your child’s office visit, they will see a provider that can appropriately treat, oversee & meet their individual needs.

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

As a patient, your child is receiving comprehensive health care at our practice. We are committed to providing premier care for your children and we place a priority on each child’s individual needs and special attention throughout infancy and into adolescence. For us to continue to provide this service, we ask that you follow the well child check schedule below, as recommended by the CDC:

Newborn
In the first 72 hours and at 2-4 weeks of age.
First Year of Life
2, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months of age.
Second Year of Life
15, 18 and 24 months of age.
Early Childhood
2.5, 3, 4 and 5 years of age.
Early School Years
Annual visits from 6 to 11 years of age.
Adolescence and Early Adulthood
Annual visits from age 12 to 21 years of age.

You may receive a reminder call or letter from our office if you have not already scheduled an appointment. However, if there is a significant lapse past the annual scheduled time for the well child visit, and you have not made an appointment, you will be dismissed from our practice. If you miss/no show your first scheduled appointment at our practice, you will be dismissed. It is especially important for us to be able to monitor your child/ren’s health. It is equally important to understand the routine benefits on your insurance plan, as some plans do not always cover the number/frequency of visits recommended on this schedule. Please check with your insurance to learn more about your routine benefits.

APPOINTMENT CANCELLATION POLICY:

We understand that situations arise in which you may need to cancel your appointment. Under these circumstances, we respectfully ask that you provide more than 24-hours’ notice for an appointment cancellation. In turn, this will allow us to make the open time slot available for other patients who are waiting to be scheduled. Cancellations that are not made within 24 hours’ notice, unfortunately become inaccessible to other patients in need.

If you desire the convenience of cancelling appointments in advance, but after business hours, we highly encourage and recommend you take advantage of our internet portal called MyChart. Access to MyChart enables a caregiver/patient to cancel an appointment through the online application, without calling the office. This can even be done after business hours when it is not possible to call the office. The MyChart system allows online cancellations with as little as 8 hours advance notice. Canceling your appointments in advance gives us the opportunity to schedule other sick or well patients in need.

Please understand that cancellations without the required notice will be treated as a NO SHOW, and your account will be charged as such. These fees are the sole responsibility of the patient/caregiver and must be paid in full before the patient’s next appointment can be scheduled. NO SHOW rules will apply to all late cancellations as well.

NO SHOW/LATE CANCELLATION POLICY:

Patients who do not show up for their appointment (without cancelling with 24 hr notice) will be considered a NO SHOW. Patients who No-Show three (3) or more times in a 24-month period may be dismissed from the practice and will be denied any future appointments. If you have multiple children in the practice this rule applies to each child, not the family as a whole. However, if one child meets the criteria for dismissal due to no shows, then all siblings will be dismissed. If you call to cancel an appointment without the required, sufficient notice, you will be informed during the call that insufficient notice was provided.

Our practice’s policy regarding no shows and late cancellations is a follow:

FIRST NO SHOW: The caregiver will receive a text message informing them of a missed appointment as well as a letter in the mail with our Attendance and No-Show policies. No show fees of $50 for well child checkups or $25 for sick visits will be applied to your account. No show fees must be paid in full before any further appointments will be scheduled.
SECOND NO SHOW: The caregiver will receive a letter by mail informing them of the second missed appointment (within the allowed 24 months) and the no show fees of $75 for well child checkups or $50 for sick visits will be applied to your account. If the caregiver is registered and active on MyChart, a message regarding the missed appointment will also be sent. No show fees must be paid in full before any further appointments will be scheduled.
THIRD NO SHOW: The caregiver will receive a letter by mail indicating that they have missed a third scheduled appointment within 24 months, and all patients under the caregiver’s account will be dismissed from the practice. No show fees of $75 for well child checkups or $50 for sick visits will be applied to your account and must be paid before we release any medical records.

The Cancellation and No-Show fees are the sole responsibility of the caregiver/patient and must be paid in full BEFORE the patient’s next appointment will be scheduled.

Our practice passionately believes that good physician/patient relationships are based upon understanding and good communication. Questions about cancellation and no-show fees should be directed to the Office Manager at 678-646-0404.

TARDINESS POLICY:

Here at All About Kids Pediatrics we strive to take everyone’s time into consideration. As a courtesy to other patients, our physicians, and our staff, we reserve the right to reschedule your appointment if you arrive outside of the allotted time frame.

Well Checks: If you are more than 15 minutes late for a Well Check, you will be marked as a NO SHOW and asked to reschedule your appointment for a later date.
Sick Visits: If you are more than 10 minutes late for a Sick Visit, we will attempt to accommodate your child on a “work in” basis. If appointment availability permits, please be aware that longer wait times may occur. You may be asked to reschedule depending on the circumstances.
Nurse Visits: If you are more than 10 minutes late for a Nurse Visit, we will attempt to accommodate your child on a “work in” basis. If appointment availability permits, please be aware that longer wait times may occur.
Sibling Appointments: If multiple siblings are scheduled back-to-back and are late for their appointments, back-to-back scheduling will no longer be allowed. You will have to choose which child is seen and which you will reschedule. All future appointments must be made separately for each child.

We understand that situations arise in which you will be late for your appointment. If this is the case, we ask that you reach out to the office in a timely manner for further direction. Please understand that tardiness without notice from caregiver will be treated as a NO SHOW, and your account will be charged as such.

SICK VISIT POLICY:

We only schedule sick appointments for the SAME DAY. We do not book sick appointments in advance unless it is a follow up for a known illness. This is to avoid NO SHOWS and charges to your account. We always have available spots for sick visits. If your child is sick, we should see them in the office at the time you call us. We cannot be sure your child will still be sick the next day and a late cancelation will result in a NO SHOW on their account and possible charges.

VACCINE POLICY:

We understand that parents feel hesitant when it comes to vaccinating their children. We are frequently asked about delaying vaccines. It is our hope that you will not delay, as this will leave a gap in your child’s protection from vaccine preventable diseases. Before you choose to delay a vaccine, please make sure you understand the vaccine information sheets (VIS) and why we vaccinate for each disease and their potential complications.

Delayed vaccine schedules require extra visits to the office and extra injections for your child. Children who are on delayed schedules will not have up to date immunizations for participation in daycare, preschool or mother’s morning out programs. We encourage you to exclude your child from these settings until vaccines are current. Please to not travel abroad, even to a resort, without having up to date vaccinations.

We will not under any circumstances make changes to the child’s Georgia Certificate of Immunization. We do not write letters excusing your child from vaccines in group settings. It is not our desire to undermine vaccine policies that protect the health of the public. Delaying vaccinations is an individual decision that may affect the health of your family, friends, and school mates if your child contracts a vaccine preventable disease.

CUSTODY/DIVORCE POLICY:

We believe that custody and divorce matters should not weigh on a child’s medical care. AAKP is NOT a party in your divorce or custody agreement; YOU ARE. AAKP will not be a bridge between disgruntled separated parents. We will collect co-payments and deductible balances from the parent attending visits with the child.

“Joint Custody” means that each parent has equal access to the child’s medical record and patient portal. Without a court order, we will not stop either parent from looking at their child’s chart, patient portal, or obtaining their child’s test results. We will not call the other parent for consent prior to treatment. We will discuss with the accompanying parent information pertinent to the child’s history and/or present visit. Please note that we encourage both parents to be available for visits whether in-person or telemedicine.

We reserve the right to charge an administrative fee for copying records should the requests become excessive. We also reserve the right to request copies of any custody/divorce agreements for documentation. Should the issues that come between parents become disruptive to our practice and staff, we will discharge the patient from the practice.

PATIENT DISCHARGE POLICY:

We want our patients and employees to be happy and healthy. We strive every day to make All About Kids Pediatrics a warm and welcoming place. We have put a lot of thought and care into our Office Policies. Failure to comply with one or more of these policies is why most patients are discharged. It is important to read and understand these policies.

Regrettably, we acknowledge that we cannot be all things to all patients. Therefore, we reserve our right to discharge a patient from our clinic for failure to abide by our policies, or any of the following:

Irreconcilable personality conflicts
Habitual verbalization of dissatisfaction with our polices or conduct
Abusive language or behavior directed toward staff
Disruptive behavior that upsets or terrorizes other patients in the clinic
Destructive behavior that damages clinic property
Use of profanity
Habitual disregard of an advised plan of care
Habitual failure to return emails or phone calls, or otherwise making it difficult to communicate about the health and well-being of your child
Misuse—or the suspicion of misuse—of prescription medications
Request to commit insurance fraud
Forging of clinic documents, e.g., school notes
Refusal to sign a vaccine refusal waiver for an under immunized or unimmunized child, making changes to the vaccine refusal wavier
Non-payment of responsible charges

All patient discharges are considered with great care; we do not make these decisions lightly. If you are discharged from the practice, you will be notified by mail with a certified letter. You will have 30 days to find another physician. We will provide acute care only during the 30-day window after discharge.

UPDATED-8/1/2023