FAQ

Please understand that the intent of these policies is to aid us in offering a high standard of care to our patients. They are not meant to be a burden. We also pledge to do our part to keep our schedule moving as efficiently as we possibly can.

There is always a nurse and physician on-call 24 hours, 7 days a week. If you call the office after hours, you can remain on the line to leave your contact information to be paged to on-call staff. Occasionally, the answering service is handling a large number of calls simultaneously. When this happens, there may be a few seconds of silence on the phone line prior to the answering service greeting. Please stay on the line until someone takes your information and gives you further instructions. If the on-call physician fails to call you back, please notify the answering service. This should never happen and may indicate a problem that we need to be aware of.

In most cases, we encourage you to call the on-call physician prior to taking your child to the urgent care center or the emergency room. In the case of a life-threatening emergency however, call 911.

A no-show is defined as missing a scheduled appointment without calling us in advance to cancel the appointment. A patient who no-shows three times in a calendar year is subject to dismissal from the practice. The first two no-shows will be followed by a message reminding the patient’s guardian of our policy by electronic message via text, email, and a letter in the mail. After the third no-show in the same calendar year, a letter will be mailed requesting that the patient find a new primary care physician. We will assist the patient in any way we can in finding a new pediatrician. There is a $20 no show fee for patients who have missed an appointment. We understand that situations occasionally arise when an appointment cannot be kept, and adequate notice is not possible. These situations will be considered on a case by case basis.

A patient who is less than 15 minutes late to his or her appointment will be informed that they are late, but will be roomed as soon as possible, and the doctor will see them as soon as possible. A patient who is more than 15 minutes late to his or her appointment will be informed that they have missed their appointment and will need to reschedule the appointment for another time. This may be later in the day, or it may be several days depending on the purpose of the visit.

We are unable to do consultations for selecting a provider but we do understand the importance of a good provider/patient relationship. If you select a provider and feel like they suit you, we do allow you to change PCPs.

When your baby is born you will want to bring him/her in 3-5 days after being discharged from the hospital. This is dependent on issues with jaundice, feeding and weight loss. It is usually recommended by the hospital pediatrician and you should make your first appointment BEFORE leaving the hospital. The remainder of the well child check are performed at the following ages: 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, 2 years, 2.5 years, 3 years and then annually after that. Most insurance plans cover these preventative visits with no copay. There are times where a well child check will be added to the routine schedule for specific issues (children on certain medications etc).

All of our providers will do annual behavioral health screenings and have the resources to get appropriate referrals when needed. Our pediatricians will manage most ADHD cases, and are very familiar and comfortable treating and assisting psychiatry in mental health disorders.

Our nurse practitioners cannot prescribe controlled ADHD medications per their licensure. That is specific to each state and out of our control.

Yes, we always have a pediatric nurse available and our pediatricians rotate an on call schedule and are available if needed.

We bill your insurance an “after hours fee” but if it’s denied, we write off that balance. You will never have to pay extra for this service.

No, we schedule all of our appointment and save room for acute/same day visits each day.

We take most insurances including Medicaid. Please check with your specific insurance company to make sure our providers are in network. As a courtesy to you, we try to contract with as many insurance providers as we can but there is no way for the staff to know all of the insurance groups. Even within large groups such as Blue Cross/United/Community Care there are certain plans that require you to see only specific providers. If we are not in your insurance network of covered providers, you will be responsible for the bill.

We are a private practice office that rents our office space from St. John’s parent company, Ascension. We have had a great and long term relationship with all of the hospitals in the Tulsa Metro, however, and can arrange for referrals to any of these systems that your insurance is contracted with.

All providers will take siblings of current, established patients. Dr. Bond and Dr. Hebertson are currently accepting new private insurance patients. Pediatric Nurse Practitioners Chelsea Walker, Amy Sommer, Sara Buntin, Ana Marshall, Kelsey Lillard and Melissa Ellingson are accepting new SoonerCare patients. This is all subject to change as we cap our patient limits to keep appointments available to current patients. Please call if you would like to find out who is currently taking patients.