Office Policies

Office Policies and Rules

HEALTH INSURANCE

As participants in the current health care delivery environment, the Family Health Care Medical Group strives to provide effective comprehensive care to our patient population. To help in this effort, we require the presentation of a current insurance card and appropriate co-payment at the time of each visit. We will bill you if we are notified by your insurance of any additional copays or patient responsibility. We accept the following insurance:
 

ALLCARE-COMMERCIAL HMO PLANS Aetna Blue Cross Blue Shield Cigna Health Net United HealthCare   ALLCARE-SENIOR HMO PLANS Alignment Health Net Seniority Plus Imperial Promise Health Plan Humana Secure Horizons (AARP Medicare Complete)

SUTTER-COMMERCIAL Aetna Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Net Sutter Health Plus United HealthCare   SUTTER-SENIOR HMO PLANS Secure Horizons (AARP Medicare Complete) Seniority Plus (Health Net)

PPO INSURANCE : Contracted plans may vary, please call to confirm. Aetna Cigna Networks by Design UMR Sutter Select          Anthem Blue Cross Health Net (including Covered CA) Health Partners of Northern CA UMR United HealthCare          Blue Shield Multiplan (PHCS) Stanislaus Foundation United HealthCare   PLEASE NOTE: WE ARE NO LONGER CONTRACTED WITH KAISER PERMANENTE, CVMG & CAREMORE   WE DO NOT ACCEPT: MEDICARE, MEDI-CAL, WORKMANS COMP, OR MEDICARE SUPPLEMENTS

APPOINTMENTS

We see patients on an appointment basis. Barring emergencies, we are committed to adhere to this schedule as closely as possible and will make every effort to inform patients when delays do occur. We ask for at least 24 hours advance notice for appointments that cannot be kept, and regret that we must charge for missed appointments. Saturday and Sunday office hours are held by appointment for urgent problems only. We ask that routine visits, business office calls, and medication refills be handled during our weekday office hours. A medical assistant is available most weekdays to provide immunizations and other injections ordered by the doctor as well as blood pressure checks. Please call to schedule an appointment for these visits. A parent or legal guardian must accompany any patient under the age of 18 to each visit.

REFERRALS

If you are requesting a first time referral for any service, including a specialist consultation, please schedule an appointment with your primary care provider. Requests for additional visits on your existing referral should be made through a call to our office. The referral process takes approximately fourteen (14) business days. Appointments with a specialist should not be made until a referral has been authorized by your insurance.

TELEPHONE CALLS

To help maintain access and communication with our providers, the Family Health Care staff is instructed to take messages for all phone calls requiring the attention of our physicians or medical assistants. We will return these calls as quickly as possible. Any messages taken after 4:00pm will be returned the following business day.

LAB AND X-RAY RESULTS

At your health care visit, tests ( lab or X ray ) or referrals may be ordered. Some tests you may do without authorization, but some tests and most referrals must be authorized by your insurance. The authorization requires your chart to be processed by our office and then reviewed by your insurance. This process can take up to two weeks. You will hear from our office or the referral office when the authorization has been completed. If you have not heard by two weeks, you should call our office at (209) 527-6900 or contact us using our contact form.

Once the test has been completed, it does take time for results to be sent back to us. However, if ONE MONTH has passed and you have NOT heard about the test, please call or email FAMILY HEALTH CARE and ask about the test results.

PRESCRIPTIONS

Prescription refill requests must be called to your pharmacy, not our office. This procedure must be followed even if there are no refills remaining on your existing prescription. Please allow five (5) business days to complete this process. Our office only processes prescription refills during weekday business hours.