Appointments
We make every effort to schedule appointments for ill children on the day that you call us. Please call our office ahead of time so that we can minimize the time that you will spend waiting.
If you have a medical emergency during office hours, we will do our best to see your child immediately or refer you to the appropriate facility.
All visits require an appointment except for Saturday morning walk-in clinic in the Wilmington office. Patients who walk in with a non-emergency condition will be fit into the existing schedule as best as possible, or they will be asked to return later in the day when the schedule allows.
PURPOSE: We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious illness and save lives, in the safety of our vaccines, and that all children and young adults should receive the recommended vaccines according to the schedule published by the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics. We also believe unvaccinated children pose a risk of spreading these serious diseases to other children who are either too young to be vaccinated or who are unable to be vaccinated because of medical conditions.
Vaccine Schedule: As recommended, vaccines and the schedule at which they are given are the results of many years of scientific study and data gathering on millions of children by thousands of scientists and physicians. This being said, we recognize that there has always been and will likely always be controversy surrounding vaccination. The vaccine campaign is truly a victim of its own success. It is precisely because vaccines are so effective at preventing illness that we are even discussing whether or not they should be given. Because of vaccines, many of you have never seen a child with polio, tetanus, whooping cough, meningitis, or even chicken pox. Such success can make us complacent about vaccinating.
We are making you aware of these facts not to scare you or coerce you, but to emphasize the importance of vaccination. We will do everything we can to convince you that vaccinating according to the schedule is the right thing to do. Our goal is to educate and to alleviate any fears you may have. At each well visit the benefit of immunizations will be discussed with you in the hope that you will accept the vaccine(s). Should you refuse to vaccinate, you will be asked to sign a declination form which will remain a part of the permanent record. Refusal to sign the declination form or efforts to alter it in any way is basis for immediate dismissal from the practice.
Finally, if you absolutely refuse to vaccinate your child despite all our efforts, we may ask you to find another practice who shares your philosophy and with whom you will be more comfortable. If an older child is unvaccinated, or under vaccinated, we would be happy to start them on a catch-up schedule to ensure they are fully protected. If that is not acceptable to the you, we may again ask you to establish care with another practice. For the most recent vaccination schedule, please visit CHOP. As a prospective new patient of the practice you will be asked for your vaccine record prior to being seen for sick or well visits. If your child is unvaccinated and you are unwilling to consider vaccines we will ask you to find a practice more in line with your philosophy. This policy also applies to existing patient families with new babies who choose not to vaccinate.
Our practice makes every effort to run on time with appointments, as we believe everyone’s time is equally valuable. If one of our providers is running behind, we will let you know. If you are unable to wait, we will help you reschedule the visit.
As a courtesy, we will remind you of your upcoming appointments via phone/text message/email.
We ask that you arrive 5 minutes before your scheduled appointment time. We understand sometimes things happen beyond your control that may cause you to be late. However, we reserve the right to ask you to reschedule if you arrive late for your appointment.
Missed Appointments: Broken appointments represent a cost to us, to you, and to other patients who could have been seen in the time set aside for you. We reserve the right to charge a fee for canceled or missed appointments. We request 24 hours notice for cancellation of appointments.
A fee may be charged for a second missed appointment. The third consecutive missed appointment will result in discharge from the practice.
Please bring all needed forms to your child's visit. There will be a charge for all forms that are not brought in the day of the child's visit. Routine forms that are brought in or requested after the day of the child's visit will be completed within 48 hours for a charge of $8.00. These include, but are not limited to: Kindergarten, Day Care, Sports Forms, Camp forms. If you have a form for completion that is not listed here, please inquire with the Front Desk. Many forms require the parent/guardian to complete the top portion of the form, if this is the case with your form you must complete this prior to submitting it to Carolina Pediatrics for completion.
Immunization Records are always available (24 x 7) on your patient portal at no charge.
Completion of complex forms will be charged $25.00 per form for each initial and updated form requested. These include FMLA forms, College Entrance Forms, Adoption Forms, Driver’s License and Military forms* and can take up to 5 days to complete. *Military forms, depending on circumstance, may require an office visit in order to complete. This will be determined by the Provider at the time of the request.
If same day service is requested there will be an additional charge of $10.00 per form. Forms brought in the day of the child's visit will NOT be charged.
Payment is required when form(s) are dropped off – cash, check or credit/debit card. Forms faxed or emailed to the office must be paid via phone prior to completion with a credit/debit card.
There is no charge to the parent or guardian for forms required for pharmacy supplies, OT, Home Health, DSS, Foster Placement, WIC forms, Medication Forms, or Educational Services (EC) forms
All forms can be returned to the requestor via secure email if preferred.
As a patient you have certain rights and responsibilities. We recognize that a respectful relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient is the foundation of proper medical care.
• Receive humane care and treatment, with respect and consideration
• Privacy and confidentiality when seeking or receiving care except for life threatening conditions or situations
• Confidentiality of your health records
• Be informed of and to exercise the option to refuse to participate in any research aspect of your care without compromising access to medical care and treatment
• Receive accurate information concerning diagnosis, treatment, risks involved, and prognosis of an illness or health related condition
• Ask about reasonable alternatives to care
• A second professional opinion regarding one's health care and treatment
• Participate actively in decisions regarding one's health care and treatment
• Accessible information regarding the scope and availability of services
• Be informed about any legal reporting requirements regarding any aspect of screening or care
• Provide complete information about one's illness/problem, to enable proper evaluation and treatment
• Ask questions so that an understanding of the condition or problems is ensured
• Show respect to health personnel and other patients
• Re-schedule/cancel an appointment so that another person may be given that time slot
• Provide the practice with any updates or changes in demographic information including address, phone number, and email address
• Provide the practice with any updates or changes in insurance information including secondary insurance coverage
• Pay bills or file health claims in a timely manner
• Use prescriptions or medical devices for oneself only
• Inform the practitioner(s) if one's condition worsens or an unexpected reaction occurs from a medication
If you believe that your rights as a patient have been violated, you should call the matter to our attention and may do so by sending a letter outlining your concerns or complaint to the attention of:
Practice Manager
Carolina Pediatrics of Wilmington, PA
715 Medical Center Drive
Wilmington, NC 28401
You will not be penalized or otherwise retaliated against for filing a complaint.
• The right to request restrictions on the use and disclosure of your protected health information
• The right to receive confidential communications concerning your medical condition and treatment
• The right to inspect and copy your protected health information
• The right to amend or submit corrections to your protected health information
• The right to receive an accounting of how and to whom your protected health information has been disclosed
• The right to receive a printed copy of this notice
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with this notice of privacy practices.
We also are required to abide by the privacy policies and practices that are outlined in this notice.
As permitted by law, we reserve the right to amend or modify our privacy policies and practices. These changes in our policies and practices may be required by changes in federal and state laws and regulations. Upon request, we will provide you with the most recently revised notice on any office visit. The revised policies and practices will be applied to all protected health information we maintain.
Under North Carolina law, minors, with or without the consent of a parent or guardian, have the ability to consent to services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of certain illnesses including: venereal disease and other diseases that must be reported to the State; pregnancy; abuse of controlled substances or alcohol; and emotional disturbance.
You may generally inspect a copy of the protected health information that we maintain. As permitted by federal regulation, we require that requests to inspect or copy protected health information be submitted in writing. You may obtain a form to request access to your records by contacting the Administrative Assistant, Privacy Officer or the Deputy Privacy Officer at Carolina Pediatrics. Your request will be reviewed and will generally be approved unless there are legal or medical reasons to deny the request.
If you would like to submit a comment or complaint about our privacy practices, you can do so by sending a letter outlining your concerns to:
HIPPA Privacy Officer Carolina Pediatrics of Wilmington, P.A.
715 Medical Center Drive
Wilmington, NC 28401
If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, you should call the matter to our attention by sending a letter describing the cause of your concern to the same address.
You will not be penalized or otherwise retaliated against for filing a complaint. Carolina Pediatrics of Wilmington is committed to protecting the confidentiality of your health information.
At Carolina Pediatrics we are committed to providing our patients with the very best evidence based medicine for their children.
A Patient Centered Medical Home is how health care is delivered to patients. The medical home team at Carolina Pediatrics manages care and services for you- acting ast the "hub of your health care". Examples of this include managing referrals to other providers, radiology and diagnostic tests. PCMH puts the patient, at the center of the health care system and provides primary care that is Accessible, Continuous, Evidence Based, Comprehensive, Family-Centered, Coordinated and Compassionate.
Your care team at Carolina Pediatrics has been developed to ensure that as your Primary Care Provider the treatment sought inside and outside of the practice is coordinated, including but not limited to timely referrals to specialists and/or diagnostic facilities., to provide communication with you and with the outside provider by following up to ensure communication from the provider post visit/diagnostic. Other team members are in place to ensure that the needed documentation within the medical home chart is maintained. This is done both electronically and through manual input into your electronic medical record so you have a single source for your childs most current medical information. Additionally, the team provides a clinical liason (Triage Nurse) to dispense advice and direct care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and to create access to the Physician on call when needed.
After each and every visit to our office(s) a patient survey will be delivered to your email. Our goal is to gather feedback from you, our patient, on how we can continue to improve on the patient experience whether it be for a sick or well visit. This feedback is reviewed with all staff and decisions made using the information provided. Please help us be the best medical home we can be by responding to the survey.
We work hard to not overuse antibiotics.
We educate families on appropriate use of antibiotics, but follow evidence-based guidelines and don’t automatically treat ear pain or a green snotty nose with antibiotics.
We do not routinely prescribe antibiotics over the phone as we do not believe that is good medicine. We will prescribe an antibiotic when we believe it is an appropriate treatment.
Efficiency through the use of technology
You will be encouraged to consult our website, register for and use our patient portal, and effectively use automated reminders for appointments and for routine care/immunizations that are due.
New Paragraph
New Paragraph
City Name
New Paragraph