Appointments
New Patients
New patients must fill out a small handful of forms. You may do that ahead of time and fax the completed forms back to us, mail them in, drop them by the office, or bring them with you to your appointment. Once this paperwork is on file, making a future appointment is as easy as calling our office (907-357-4543). Of course new patients can call for an appointment as well. We’ll fill out some of the paperwork with you over the phone.
Please arrive 15 minutes BEFORE your scheduled appointment if you are a new patient OR have not downloaded and completely filled out the applicable health assessment paperwork available on our website.
Plan to stay at least an hour for a well child visit, a bit more if you have two kids being seen at the same time. Approval for visits of more than two children from your family at the same time will require prior approval by the doctor.
Bring your insurance card and driver’s license with you to each appointment. If you are 15 minutes or more LATE for your appointment, we may have to reschedule you. In some cases we may be able to see tardy patients as a same day walk-in which may result in a substantial wait time either in our waiting room or in the exam room. The provider will see the regularly scheduled patients before working you back in.
Same Day Appointments
We attempt to keep a few “acute” appointment slots available each day for those overnight illnesses that seem to come out of nowhere. Call shortly after 8:00 AM in the morning for same-day appointments. We will make every effort to accommodate your sick child’s needs. We appreciate your understanding if we ask you to wait a bit in our lobby for a room and/or medical provider to be available during these overbook situations. Our excellent pediatric nurse practitioner Randy Twenhafel, and family nurse practitioner Lea Anne Abernathy, can accommodate sick kid visits on most days, so the chances of your child getting an appointment the same day with less wait time than at the ER are very good, especially if you call in the morning so we can better plan the day.
Your call after business hours will be forwarded to our answering service. They will direct you to the best course of action, which may include paging an on-call pediatrician, even at night. Ptarmigan Pediatrics is truly just a phone call away.
Missed Appointments
We recognize how important it is for you to be able to see your regular provider. We will make every effort to accommodate your scheduling needs. In return, please help us by cancelling appointments when necessary with as much notice as possible. At least 24 hours is ideal. This allows us to schedule other patients who may require prompt attention.
Our automated service will call the phone number we have on file for you with a reminder call the day prior to your appointment, but regardless it is still your responsibility to make it to your appointments on time. “No shows” may result in a $35 service charge being assessed per missed appointment. This charge is NOT covered by your insurance and must be paid prior to the next appointment. Repeated no shows may limit your ability to schedule appointments; we will then see your child on a walk-in basis as room allows only. Our clinic’s time is valuable, but as important is the opportunity for our other patients to schedule appointments and be seen as needed in a timely manner.