“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.”
Practice Essentials
These sets of principles are the basis for an optimal patient-doctor relationship and for a sustainable Micro Practice. Please make sure that you understand them and ask for clarification if something is not clear. If they “make sense to you” it means that we are on the same page and aligned for an excellent relationship. On the other hand, if they do not resonate with you, you might want to consider switching to a more conventional type of practice.
Micro Practice Operation Requirements:
This style of delivering medical care requires more involvement and input from patients; you should be willing/able to provide more information for each visit and to use technological tools to facilitate your physician’s workload. In the long run this will allow your physician to sustain a solo practice and to deliver optimal quality care to you.
Some examples of increased patient involvement are: use of self-serve online booking method, completing pre-visit questionnaires, complying with form/certificate procedures and uninsured services requirements, complying with this set of policies, etc.
In this model of practice, front desk staff hours are minimal and replaced by a “virtual front desk”. The preferred way of communicating is via secure portal messages instead of by telephone.
Please read this Doctor-Patient Partners in Health Agreement (Compact)
Essentials Topics to be agreed upon:
MISSED APPOINTMENTS, LATE CANCELLATIONS AND NO SHOWS:
There are always patients seeking medical care. Therefore, if you are unable to attend to your booked appointment please cancel it at least 24 business hours in advance for a regular appointment and 48 business hours for a 30 minute appointment, so we may book someone else in your place.
Go to Missed Appointment under the Uninsured Services section to learn more about how to proceed if you missed your appointment and the fees involved.
Please note that recurrent NO SHOWS are a reason to terminate our relationship.
MEDICAL FORMS:
The BC Health Care Insurance Plan pays for many of the services patients receive from their doctor. However, a number of services are not covered by the government plan. These are uninsured services. Some are billed to lawyers, government agencies or others, and some are billed to the patient.
Examples of uninsured services billed to the patient include: Telephone Prescription Refills, Missed Appointment Fee, Transfer of records, Private letters/forms (eg. Sick Notes), Insurance forms (eg. Disability), Third Party letters/examinations, Pregnancy Leave and Employment Insurance forms, Certification of fitness, Disabled Parking Authorization, Driver’s Medical, certain uninsured procedures.
Go to Medical Forms under the Uninsured Services section to learn more about common types of forms, their fees and how to proceed.
Please, DO NOT use/book an appointment to request the completion of FORMS/CERTIFICATES. Appointments are meant to discuss and assess your health concerns. If you need a form/certificate completed by your doctor, please go to Medical Forms under Uninsured Services section to learn how to proceed.
PRESCRIPTION RENEWAL WITHOUT A VISIT:
Your physician wants to regularly follow-up on your treatment to make sure that it continues to be effective and that you are not experiencing side effects or developing contraindications. Therefore we encourage you to visit your doctor BEFORE you run out of your prescription medication and avoid requesting renewals over the phone.
Prescription refill requests may or may not be approved and are at the discretion of your physician. If approved, it would be granted temporarily until you can come for a follow-up appointment.
Please go to Prescription Renewal without a Visit under Uninsured Services section to learn how to proceed.
PHYSICIAN VACATION/CONFERENCE/SICK TIME:
It is very hard to find a replacement or a local physician to cover the practice when your doctor is taking time off. Despite your physician’s efforts, this might not be achievable. In this case if you have a pressing medical concern you should seek medical attention by going to a walk-in clinic or to the closest ER department. All other concerns will be addressed by your physician once she is back in the office. You can go to online booking to book the next visit available.
If you run out of medication, please ask your pharmacist to provide an emergency supply until you can see your physician again.
RESPECTFUL INTERACTIONS:
We endeavor to treat everyone with respect. Disrespectful or abusive behavior towards staff, either over the phone, in writing, online or in person, will not be tolerated and will be grounds for immediate termination of our relationship.
Termination of patient-physician relationship
We reserve the right to terminate the patient-physician relationship under the following circumstances:
If we feel threatened in any way by a patient or his or her family.
If a patient has had recurrent “no-shows” (three times).
If a breach of trust has occurred.
If a patient has not come to the clinic for more than 24 months. Our goal is to prevent disease and to maintain health so we expect that patients come for regular screenings and preventive health care.
Any other circumstance which we feel frustrates the patient-physician relationship and renders it unacceptable.