Referrals

As primary care physicians, we can manage most of your child's health care at our office. For medical issues that require specialty care, you should always contact our office to discuss referral requests prior to making an appointment with a specialist. We refer to specialists in whom we have confidence and who communicate with us regularly about our patients’ needs. Many of these specialists are members of the South Shore Physician Hospital Organization, Inc. For additional subspecialty services, we also coordinate care with Children’s Hospital and New England Medical Center.

If your insurance plan is a PPO, you do not need a referral from your primary care physician. If you have an HMO plan, you are required to have a referral from your primary care physician in order for your insurance company to pay for the visit. 

Once your pediatrician has recommended that your child see a specialist, you may call the specialist and make an appointment. If you require a referral, we suggest that you call us as soon as you make your appointment with the specialist. Please allow up to seven business days to process your referral.  Requests made less than seven business days prior to the appointment or after the appointment has already taken place may not be able to be processed.

To have an insurance referral processed, please call us during regular office hours and ask for the Referral Line. Our voice mail system will prompt you to leave the following information: your child’s name and date of birth, name of your primary care physician, name of your insurance carrier and ID number, name of the specialist, specialist’s phone and fax numbers if available, appointment date and location, reason for the referral, and your name and phone number in the event that there are questions regarding your referral.

Cancellations

GENERAL PEDIATRICS

We generally call to confirm pre-scheduled appointments two business days prior to your appointment time. Please call us as soon as possible if you are not able to come to your appointment so that we may offer this time to someone else.  If you are running late, please call as soon as possible. Depending on the schedule, if you miss your appointment time, it may be necessary for you to wait for the next available appointment or reschedule to another day. Due to the considerable time allotted in the schedule for health supervision visits (annual physicals) and certain other pre-scheduled visits, if these visits are not kept or cancelled with less than 24 hours notice, there will be a charge of $50.00.  Monday appointments must be cancelled by 5:00pm on the preceding Friday.

DEVELOPMENTAL PEDIATRICS

If your child has an appointment scheduled for Dr. Belknap’s Developmental-Behavioral practice, please note the following information. Due to the considerable time allotted in the schedule for developmental-behavioral problems, any developmental-behavioral appointment that, for any reason, is not kept or cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will result in a charge of $100.00. Monday appointments must be cancelled by 5:00pm on the preceding Friday.

When you schedule a developmental-behavioral appointment for the first time, you will be asked to sign a copy of the cancellation policy acknowledging your receipt. The cancellation policy can be found on the last page of the Developmental Behavioral Patient Registration Packet.

You may download a Developmental-Behavioral Patient Registration packet from the About Us page, or we can mail one to you. Once we receive your completed packet, our office will call you to schedule an appointment.

Medication Refills

If your child needs a refill for a prescription medication, please call us during regular office hours and ask for the Refill Line. Our voice mail system will prompt you to leave the following information: your child’s name and date of birth, name of the medication(s) to be refilled, prescribing physician’s name, pharmacy name and phone number, and your name and phone number in the event that there are questions regarding your refill request. We generally require five to seven business days to process requests for refills of controlled substances such as stimulant medications (i.e. Ritalin, Adderall, etc). Other medications may be refilled within one to two business days. Please do not expect a call from our office once medications have been called into the pharmacy. You should call your pharmacy directly to confirm that your medication is ready.

Payment Policy

Thank you for entrusting us with the care of your children. As a small practice, we attempt to serve you as personally and efficiently as possible. To meet this goal we need your assistance. Please inform us immediately of any change in your insurance plan or medical coverage. We will need a copy of the insurance card and the date of effect in order to properly bill for services.

COPAYMENTS:

If you have an insurance-required co-payment, it is due and payable at the time of your child's visit. It is not our policy to bill for co-payments. For your convenience, we accept MasterCard and Visa, cash, checks and debit cards.

DEDUCTIBLES:

If you know you have a deductible, payment is due and payable at the time of your visit. If you do not know your deductible please call your insurance company.

Statements will be sent to address any balances not covered by your insurance plan, e.g. co-insurances, or other non-covered charges, and are due upon receipt.

OVERDUE PAYMENTS:

If you have an overdue balance, please remit payment immediately to avoid further billing charges and collection efforts. You may not be able to schedule an office visit for your child, except in an emergency, if you have a payment due which has not been addressed. Because of the costs in manpower and lost revenue, those balances greater than 90 days in arrears will be turned over to a collection agency if not addressed. Payments can be made over the phone with a credit or debit card.

Parental Supervision

We encourage and prefer that you, the parent or legal guardian, bring your child to all appointments with the pediatrician. You know the most about your child and this knowledge may be crucial for the pediatrician to deliver the best care possible. It is for this reason that patients less than 18 years old MUST be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to all Health Supervision Visits (annual physicals), developmental-behavioral appointments, and immunization administrations. Patients less than 18 years old may be seen for sick visits only if they are accompanied by a responsible adult (i.e. nanny, grandparent, older sibling, etc) and a parent/legal guardian has signed a “Consent to Treat” form which is part of the General Pediatrics Registration Packet. Without parental consent, the pediatrician may refuse to treat your child for anything less than a very serious, life-threatening emergency. If the pediatrician feels that your child’s life is in danger, he or she will provide the necessary medical care without this consent. Additionally, we realize that occasionally our patients’ siblings or friends will be left in the reception area while the patients and parents are visiting with the pediatrician. We ask that all children younger than 8 years old be supervised by an adult while in our reception area. Our office staff is unable to provide such supervision.

Adolescent Confidentiality

As our patients mature into adolescents, it is important for them to take more responsibility for their own health care. While we feel that parents’ input is vitally important, our primary concern is for the adolescent and his/her special needs. We, therefore, encourage our adolescent patients to speak with us directly about all topics and concerns. In order to encourage open, honest discussion, it is our policy to keep all information provided by the adolescent confidential with the exception of issues that may be life-threatening to the adolescent or others. For patients older than 18 years old, all medical information will be communicated with the patient directly. Some patients, however, may wish that we communicate specific information with their parents. Patients older than 18 years old will be asked to complete an Adolescent Confidentiality / Release Form that grants or denies our pediatricians and office staff permission to discuss with the patient’s parents certain issues related to the patient’s medical care (i.e. appointment scheduling, medication refills, referrals, etc).

After-hours Calls

After-hours phone calls should be reserved for medically urgent matters. If your child has an unforeseen medical emergency that requires immediate attention, you should go directly to the nearest Emergency Room. Please call our office during regular business hours for matters related to appointments, medication refills, referrals, or billing. If your child has an urgent medical problem during evening hours, weekends, or holidays, please inform our answering service of your concerns and the on-call physician (either Dr. Healey or Dr. Dijamco) will be paged. It is our policy to return after-hours phone calls as soon as possible. Please remove any blocks from your phone that would prevent the physician from reaching you. We suggest that you call the answering service a second time if you did not receive a return call within 30 minutes as the original message may not have been transmitted properly. In the rare event that your after-hours call is not answered by the answering service at our office phone number at 781.383.8380, please call our answering service directly at 781.340.2273.

Emails

Email communication with the pediatrician is intended for non-urgent, general information inquiries only and should not substitute for an office visit. Email is not intended for specific medical advice and should not be used to obtain a diagnosis or to replace or overrule your physician’s judgment. Patients should not use email if emergency medical treatment may be needed. We strongly encourage patients to consult with their physician for answers to personal questions. Use of email does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Email must not be used to handle urgent matters, set up appointments, or request medication refills or referrals. Please call our office at 781.383.8380 and our staff will gladly assist you. You may click on “Contact Us by Email” on the Contact page of our website if you would like to send an email. The “subject” heading of all email messages should include the patient’s name, date of birth, and the specific nature of your message. Unlabeled email will not be opened. If you have not received an email reply within 2-4 business days, please resubmit your email or contact us at the office.