Our process
Before you arrive
Before You Arrive Up to a week in advance, our Clinical Care Staff (CCS) will start preparing for your visit. All of our Providers have a clinical care member assigned to them and their patients. Our CCS reviews schedules, make sure your charts are up-to-date, and check to see that we’ve received any outstanding reports such as lab results, specialist visits, or emergency room or hospital discharge summaries. When the CCS has finished their job, your Provider can review your complete chart and history before you even walk in the door.
Our Patient Service Reps (PSR) review our schedules several days in advance, then work to verify insurance and note any changes from previous visits. (If they identify these things ahead of time, it saves you time at Check-In!) We have courtesy reminders that are sent out via text message to remind you of your appointment time.
At the front desk
So your appointment day is here, and upon your arrival at our office, our PSR will get any updated information. They verify your contact info every visit, just to make sure we can get in touch with you if we need to — you might be surprised how often phone numbers and email addresses change, they will also ask to see your insurance card, because insurances can also change quite frequently, especially the past couple of years.
To allow the visit to run more smoothly, we now collect co-pays and balances at check-in, along with scheduling any future appoinments. At this time the PSR’s will also supply you with any necessary paper work to be completed. We now have a Welcome Packet for new and exisiting families to complete to update account information. Our PSR will also supply you with a form to complete for access to our Patient Portal. The above mentioned forms can be found on our Forms page if you would like to complete them ahead of time.
In the reception area
While you’re waiting in our reception area, our medical team is busy seeing other patients and preparing the exam room in which you will be soon. Because we have multiple Providers seeing patients at one time, you may not be called back into an exam room in the order that you arrived or were checked in. We know that can be frustrating sometimes, but if someone goes back before you in that situation, they’re seeing a different Provider who’s running on a different schedule.
We try, of course, to be as fast and efficient as possible. But we can’t always predict when other concerns or problems or even emergencies will arise, and we always want to give every one of our patients as much time as we need to make the best possible assessment, provide the best possible care, and, of course, answer all your questions and concerns. We do our best to let you know when a Provider is running behind, but please feel free to ask for an update if it seems like you’ve been waiting for a long time.
In the exam room with a clinical care specialist
Once your child is brought back to the Exam Room, one of our CCS will get a complete set of vital signs (height, weight, temperature, and blood pressure), and ask some necessary medical history questions — which allows your Provider, especially in the case of a sick visit, to get a quick picture of what’s going on before entering the room. This is all important information for the provider that helps guide the treatment. (Sometimes your Provider will ask similar questions, but that’s because they’re trying to pinpoint things just a little more clearly.) At this time, age-appropriate screenings are done including developmental, autism & depression.
All of our CCS have medical training, so they’re prepared to spot any warning signs or “red flags” that come up when taking vitals and history. If they see a sign for concern — if, say, a child who came in for cough and cold symptoms is wheezing and breathing rapidly — they’ll move quickly to get an available Provider into the room right away. Situations like this are one reason you may sometimes have a longer-than-usual wait; we’ll skip over appointment order if it’s necessary to safeguard the health and safety of one of our patients.
Once all of your information has been gathered, the CCS will leave the exam room and let your Provider know you’re ready to be seen.
In the exam room with a provider
Now it’s your turn!
Once your Provider reviews the history and asks if you have any other questions or concerns, they begin their exam. After the exam, once your Provider has finished the Well Visit or made a diagnosis and recommended treatment for a Sick Visit, your child may need immunizations, testing, or treatments in the office. If that’s the case, your Provider alerts your CCS, who will prepare — and then deliver — whatever you need to complete your appointment.
At checkout
Now that we collect your co-pay at check-in, along with balances and scheduling future appointments, you may not need to check out. If you would like to request a copy of the immunizations from your visit, this will be available on your patient portal or you may stop at checkout. This is also the time to obtain a school note or any forms, labs. or orders you may need to pick up.
After you leave
Once you walk out the door, we still haven’t completed your visit; a few important things are still happening inside our offices. First, your Provider completes what’s called an Office Encounter by putting all the notes and documentation into your chart. Once the visit notes are complete, you can see a summary of them in your Patient Portal account. (Though they’re usually available by the end of the day, notes can sometimes take up to 2 or 3 days to appear on the Portal.) Once the office notes have been completed, they’re reviewed by our Business Office — the members of our staff who attach charges to bills and make sure they’re correct, before they submit them to your insurance company. Once the bill has been submitted to your insurance company, our Business office follow the charges and update your account after payment is received. We may not know until then whether there are certain charges or parts of your bill that your individual insurance plan did or didn’t cover. If there’s a balance due, they will automatically charge your account , prepare and send a bill.
When you call with a concern
There’s two more important groups of people you may not encounter in the office, but with whom you frequently speak with on the phone: our fabulous Triage staff. They work as a team to answer all phone calls, questions, and concerns about medical issues. They’re able to answer many of these questions themselves, but for others, they’ll consult with one of our Providers to get you the best possible care advice.
All of our Triage staff have medical training, so they’re the ones who can make sick appointments or, if necessary, refer you to the Emergency Room. All the care advice they discuss with you is recorded into your electronic medical record and reviewed by a Provider. Because of those electronic medical records, all triage can access your information in the same manner.
Our last group but not least, is our Scheduling. They work as a team to coordinate your care. They do pre-certifications, prior-authorizations, schedule appointments with specialists and complete referrals.
Now you know
That’s a look behind the scenes of what happens before, during, and after your visit to PAK. We hope it gives you some idea of all the things that happen, and of all the people who work together, to get you through your visit, and to keep your precious children as healthy and happy as we can.
If you want to know more, or if you have any questions, feel free to ask us in the office anytime!