Pediatric Diagnostic Associates FAQs
Choosing the right pediatrician for your child is not easy. You have to consider qualifications, distance, personality, quality and flexibility in the office in which the doctor works, costs, and, of course, attitude.
None of the pediatricians in our group are perfect for everybody, but each is just right for someone. All are well qualified, trained and up-to-date. Each has their own special ability to connect with children and parents. As best as can be managed, they want children and their parents to be comfortable coming to the office and confident their problems will be addressed in efficient, reasonable ways.
Our staff includes 8 Board Certified Pediatricians.
We see new babies every day at Erlanger East and Main (Downtown) nurseries as well as Parkridge East Nursery. If a child is sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, we prefer Children’s Hospital at Erlanger.
You don't have to, but you may prefer to. If you would like to meet with any of our doctors prior to delivery, just call us to work out a time to come by for a chat. We ordinarily do these during the lunch hour, but if that doesn't work for you, it may be possible to arrange another time.
We begin answering the phone every Monday through Saturday at 7:30am. Ordinarily, on weekdays, the last appointments of the day begin at 4:30pm, but we stay open every day as late as is needed to see patients that need to be seen and have called for an appointment earlier in the day. We see well and sick children Monday through Friday and reserve Saturday and Sunday appointments for acute sick visits. There may be an additional fee billed for after-hours appointments.
We are not open on New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
Most patients see the same doctor most of the time. There will be times when your chosen doctor is not available and you can have appointment times with one of the other doctors. Some families choose to see different doctors or settle on a favorite substitute. Some children, as they mature, feel more comfortable with a doctor of the same gender, and siblings don’t always agree. You get to choose, as you become acquainted with our staff and can make appointments with whichever provider you or your child prefers. Each of the providers has their own personality, but they all practice medicine in similar ways.
As a rule, we discourage walk-in visits. If you really think it is an emergency, call us first, or if you’re really worried, go to the emergency room, which is best equipped to handle true emergencies. Patients with appointments (and that will be you, of course) deserve to be seen as close to on-time as we can manage. Walk-in patients will be triaged by the nurse, and if stable, will be given the next available appointment. It’s always to your and everyone else’s advantage to call for a time.
We have RNs and trained medical assistants to answer your questions during office hours. Please feel free to call at any time with any questions or concerns. If the advice line is busy, our staff will return your call within the hour (usually sooner).
At first a preventive visit and office visit may seem similar, but there is a difference. Knowing which to schedule can help ease any confusion.
You schedule preventive visits which are annual wellness/ check-ups to help prevent or detect any health concerns. Confusion comes when at your annual checkup you want to discuss or receive treatment for a new or existing condition that requires action. This is where a preventive visit can become an office visit and your bill can be impacted.
You schedule an office visit, or problem-related service, for problem focused care, meaning you notice symptoms and want to talk with your provider. In your preventive visit if a problem is addressed and needs to be treated, your provider’s office is required to bill as a separate office visit, due to action for treatment needed.
What is a Wellness/ Check-up visit?
- Complete physical exam (annual health maintenance exam)
- Blood pressure, hemoglobin, and cholesterol screening tests
- Hearing and vision screening
- Thorough review of medical history, general health and well-being
- Vaccination review and update
- Developmental and mental health screenings
- Anticipatory guidance on growth, development, sleep, nutrition, and behavior
- Counseling on illness and injury prevention
What is an Office/ Problem-focused visit?
- Diagnosing and monitoring specific medical conditions
- Addressing new or worsening symptoms
- Addressing medical concerns and treatment plans
- Post hospitalization discharge care
- Medication refills
- Specialist referrals
- Testing/lab results
- Depending on benefits an office visit can result in additional costs
When scheduling an appointment, state clearly whether this will be a wellness exam or if this appointment will be to discuss and treat specific medical conditions or to address new or worsening symptoms. Our physicians can often accomplish both visit types on the same day, but we need to have the appropriate time to address all concerns. If both visit types are performed on the same day, we are required by insurance to code and bill for both.
After hours calls will be forwarded to the Answering Service. Please limit these calls to emergencies or urgent questions that you feel cannot wait until the following day.
Yes! We are proud to offer very spacious sick and well waiting areas.
After discharge from the hospital, infants are seen first when they are three to six days old. This visit concentrates on any issues from the birth time and expectations for feeding and weight gain. The next routine well-child exams occur at four weeks, two months, four months, six months, nine months, and twelve months. Each visit helps us answer your questions, check for appropriate development, and update immunizations.
Requests for prescription refills can be addressed to the advice nurse call line during office hours. Please allow 48 hours for your prescription request to be completed. Medications cannot be refilled after hours.
We will gladly complete these forms for you. In order to do this, your child should have had a well child visit within the past 12 months. Visits for an illness address a specific problem and are not ordinarily comprehensive enough for us to complete these forms. There is no charge for completing these forms, but please allow us 48 hours. They can be mailed or faxed, if that is what works best for you.
We accept almost all major insurance plans and many of the smaller ones. We provide a list of accepted plans on our Insurance page. It is best to call our business office for specifics about your plan. Insurance companies' websites and online information about available providers are, as you may have discovered, frequently out of date. If you have a plan that we don't cover, perhaps we need to consider it. Let us know.
