Please make appointments for routine, well-child visits as soon as you can. See the schedule of routine office visits and plan ahead. We will be accommodating but appointments for camp and school physicals are booked early.
If you are unable to keep your appointment, please call to cancel as early as possible so we may try to schedule another patient in that slot. There is a $50 fee for missed appointments or appointments cancelled with less than 24 hours of anticipation.
If your child is ill please call the office as early in the day as possible. You will be given the next available appointment. On Saturday please call by 10 am. Please note that every sibling will need to have an appointment in order to be seen by the doctor.
We know that your time is valuable. Emergencies do occur and we ask for your understanding while waiting in our office. All visits will be given the necessary time.
We are unable to provide blood-drawing and laboratory services for other providers. If your child's specialist requests blood or other laboratory tests they should arrange to have them done at their office, the hospital or the laboratory.
When checking in, please alert the receptionist of any changes in insurance, address and telephone numbers. Insurance co-payments are due at the time of visit.
If your child has a life-threatening emergency, please call 911.
The three doctors at Riverdale Pediatrics alternate call after office hours and when the office is closed. We do not share on call duties with other practices, so you will always speak with one of our doctors.
Please be respectful and reserve after-hour calls for truly urgent issues. We have a link to the HealthyChildren.org's Symptom Checker website under the heading "Sick Child?" on all the pages of our website. It is a service from the American Academy of Pediatrics and you will find answers to many of the questions you may be calling about.
If you must speak with a doctor before office hours, leave a message with the answering service telephone operator; do not leave voice mail. If your call has not been returned within 45 minutes, please call again.
Please disengage your caller ID block after you leave a message for the doctor. It is very likely that the doctor will be calling back from a blocked telephone number.
After the office is closed we cannot schedule appointments or answer billing questions. Please call during office hours and our staff will assist you.
For your child's safety we do not refill prescriptions after office hours. When we are out of the office we do not have immediate access to your child's medical record and medication history.
Due to the extremely high number of school, camp and other activity forms we are requested to fill out, we have developed an all-purpose, generic or "universal" form that will meet all these needs. This form has all the information required by the most demanding schools and camps and we provide it to you free of charge. Before attaching our form to the school or camp forms you have we suggest you make copies of our form so you have them for future needs.
We will attach this form to all school and camp forms we recieve. If your school, camp or activity facility will not accept our form and insists on their form being filled out, there will be a $10 fee per form and up to a two week processing time.
The idea of a medical home was introduced by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1967. Currently, the concept of a child's medical home is a partnership between patient, family and primary provider, in cooperation with specialists and community resources. The patient and his/her family is the center of the medical home, but the primary physicians are integral in providing first contact and continuous, comprehensive care.
Visits to urgent care centers, if done frequently and injudiciously, can be disruptive to he continuity of care provided at a medical home. If your child is ill after hours, please call the office and speak with one of our doctors. The doctor may be able to proved guidance until we can see your child in our office or, if appropriate, recommend that yo go to an emergency room or pediatric urgent care center.