Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of patients and prospective patients.
If you are a current active patient of the practice (must have had a visit within 12 months) please call the office as early as possible on a normal working day in order to speak with a staff member. We have same day and urgent care visits available for people who are ill or have urgent issues. Availability of these appointments may vary depending on demand and seasonal variations. We try to schedule a person who is sick within 72 hours of a call as staffing permits. We want to be your medical home and attempt to see our patients in a timely manner. Since we cannot diagnose over the phone and depending on your age and medical history, we may need refer you to the emergency room or urgent care center (depending on insurance) for evaluation. On weekends, please call our main line and the answering service will contact Dr. Crews. When we are accepting new patients we are usually able to get you in as a new patient within 30 days. The industry standard is 60 days.
Dr. Crews is on staff and has patients at 2 hospitals, depending on the number of inpatients that are in need of care, office visits may be limited.
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Depending on the medication and/or medical condition a phone refill of current medications may be available. Not all refill request can be honored. If you have a current visit on record and the prescription has been originally issued by Dr. Crews, call the pharmacy and have them send the office a Fax requesting a refill. This helps prevent potential medication errors from transcribing phone messages.
You may be required to come in for a visit prior to getting a prescription refilled. Antibiotics are not called in without a visit. If there are issues with your pharmacy benefit plan requiring additional documentation or change in medication to meet your formulary requirements we request that you to schedule an appointment. Please schedule an appointment by calling the office for an appointment extension 1 or 0. Prior authorization request may also require a visit before we can process the request or an administrative fee for time spent on authorization may be charged, this fee is may not be covered by your insurance. We process refill requests in batches and remind everyone that it may take as long as 3 working days for a refill to be processed. Please plan ahead. Refills on medications are predictable events and considered a routine problem and therefore are usually not processed on weekends or holidays unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Our secure Fax is active 24 hours a day baring natural disasters and refills are processed during normal posted business hours. Faxes receive after 3 p.m. and on weekends will be reviewed on the next business day.
Most importantly please get your medications refills at your appointment. Check the number of refills remaining on each bottle. It is best to bring in your bottles. Discard old bottles to avoid confusion. Never use automatic refill service which will not be updated if your medication changes. Also note that prescriptions are only valid for one year from the date filled regardless of number of refills remaining. Please speak with your mail order pharmacy about helping coordinate refills so that all medications needing refill will come due at the same time. Due to Mail Order Pharmacy plan requirements for additional refill request we may ask that you schedule an appointment for refills.
Please also check to make sure your prescription is correct (dose, amount 90 versus 30 day supply) or reflects the way you are taking it prior to leaving the office so it can be corrected or updated. We provide a Visit Summary at each visit and ask that you review the document and notify us of any errors as soon as possible. Dr. Crews may limit refills on certain medications based on his professional opinion. A prescription is a professional service. In addition, state law requires that we comply with standards set forth by 64B8-9.014 Standards for Telemedicine Prescribing Practice.
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Call the office during normal business hours, when the voice mail systems answers please select 5, 1 or 0. If no one is available to answer your call or the staff is busy helping others, the message system will ask you to leave a message. Please provide your full name, current phone number and specific information regarding your concerns or questions. A staff member will respond to your call, usually the same day to let you know we have received the call. Most billing issues require investigation and calls to insurance companies. This may take up to 14 working days. We will respond either by phone or letter. Our office priority is patient care, so during busy times, care concerns will be addressed before billing concerns. If you do not get an acknowledgement to a voice mail message you have left after 2 working days, please call back to make sure your message was received. The best time to call is from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Our biller is available during our normal business hours.
For Laboratory bills contact the billing laboratory. In most instances they need your current insurance information. Fill out forms and return to laboratory billing office.
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You should schedule a follow up appointment for all laboratory and diagnostic studies that are ordered/and or performed in our office.
If you have any questions regarding your results Dr. Crews request that you schedule a follow up appointment. Our medical assistants lack the expertise to give you the appropriate information and they have been instructed to schedule you an appointment when you call.
To schedule an apt please call our office at (352) 360-0654, hit # 0 or #1 for the appointment desk.
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We would love to be able to personally answer all calls rather than have the phone call be forwarded voice mail. Your calls are important to us, we would prefer to take your calls personally but during peak times. Our goal is to be more efficient and not delay care of patients in the office in order to answer the phone. It also enables us to better serve you. When a voice mail is left we are able to review your chart and the issues of concern with Dr. Crews and other staff members before returning your call we will have better communication and avoid "telephone tag". It is vital that you have your current and active phone numbers in our system. IN many instances we are unable to contact patients due to out of service numbers, incorrect number and lack of alternate phone numbers.
If you have and Emergency, please call 911 or proceed to the nearest emergency room. Have the Emergency Room contact Dr. Crews at (352) 360-0654. This line is forwarded to the answering service. The answering service is operational when the office is closed.
Also Note if you do get voice mail and you would like to speak to someone please just dial another extension during the message to be forwarded to another line if that staff member is available they will answer your call.
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For non emergent appointments please call the office during normal business hours. Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and on Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. During the winter months we have problems with All Circuits are Busy which makes it difficult to turn over our phones or return calls. The phone company has been notified. Once the phone system has answered you may Press 1 or 0 at any time to speak with front desk. If the voicemail activates please leave a message and someone should get back with you as soon as possible. Please be clear that you need a same day appointment if you are ill and voice the same in your message if a voice mail answers or try selecting #3 or #4 for the medical assistant line so that your concerns can be addressed. We try to answer all calls within 6 rings to avoid unnecessary voice mails and "telephone tag" but we try not to interrupt care of patients presently in the office.
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Dr. Crews is in the office when patients are scheduled. He also has patients in the hospital. We try to accommodate everyone when possible but there is a limit to the number of patients that can be seen in one day depending on demand and the number of hospitalized patients.
Dr. Crews may have been up all night due to calls and emergencies and he is unable to care for additional patients due to fatigue. We have many patients with conflicting needs and have to prioritize and balance the visits with staff availability as well. Scheduling appointments allows us to limit the in office waits that patients may experience in an office that allows for walk in's at the expense of patients who have a scheduled appointment.
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At the present we provide plebotomy (blood drawing) for our patients for laboratory studies ordered by Dr. Crews as staffing permits. Laboratory testing cannot be ordered until you have been seen and received an order from the physician. Most insurance companies and Medicare require medical necessity and appropriate diagnosis for testing which Dr. Crews must document in your record and this must be determined prior to drawing of blood. Results for testing ordered by other physicians will not be sent to our office and we cannot give you information or results. Please contact the ordering physician for an appointment to review your results or schedule an appointment for Dr. Crews and bring your laboratory studies with you for review. Please note it is your responsibility to know what laboratory will give you the best benefit. Please verify with our staff prior to getting your blood drawn that the correct laboratory is being used. By agreeing to get blood drawn in the office you are responsible for payment for blood drawing fee if not covered by your carrier.
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You will need to schedule an appointment to have those prescriptions rewritten. A prescription is a professional service requiring medical record review and signature.
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We evaluate contracts and plans on an ongoing basis. We will not be participating in any Part C Advantage Medicare replacement plans. (such as Secure Horizon, Universal, Pyramid as an example) and other Medicare ManagedCare Plans. Due to the Medicare policy and the issues associated with managed care insurance companies it is not feasible to participate with these plans. In general, the administrative burden placed on our practice by these plans makes it prohibitive for us to participate. We will not be participating with any plans in 2008. We also cannot provides services for you, even if you offer to pay us if you have those plans because of Medicare policies and our participation agreement with Medicare.
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Due to HIPAA regulations and a number of network and security issues we are presently not able to assure confidential e-mail and therefore cannot offer the service.
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A prescription is a professional service and the work required to refill prescription is a service for which payment is required.
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We get a multitude of requests for pre-authorization of medications or medical supplies. All documents must be reviewed, charts must be reviewed and calls need to be made. Prior authorization calls take an average of 15 to 20 minutes, in most instance a fax is then sent to our office so that it can be completed and once we fax it back it may take some time for them to process the information and make a determination. We do not have a medical secretary and our staff has limited time for this function and will get to it as soon as possible. We would be happy to schedule you an office visit for the completion of paperwork.
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When we need to complete a form for travel insurance, disability or other documents requiring professional opinion, completion or signature. A request and authorization must be signed prior to completion of paperwork. It may take up to 3 business days to complete such forms. There is a charge for completing this paperwork.
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Due to changes of coverage by the major insurance companies it is imperative that you discuss and verify your preferred medical laboratory at time of your laboratory draw. If you are not sure please ask for an order form and you may proceed to your participating laboratories drawing station for blood draw. If you have a billing problem and need correction of coding please let our staff know so that we can forward the appropriate information to the lab.
If you receive a bill please review the bill. Your laboratory may not bill your secondary insurance of the bill is part of your deductible. PLEASE read your statement and contact the laboratory for assistance.
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Due to changes in coverage please check your policy. Lab and Diagnostic deductibles have increased tremendously. This is in effort to control costs. Even if authorization is granted by your insurer, it may still not be paid for due to deductible or other coverage contracts and not necessarily medical necessity. We document time spent on getting authorizations. Because of the increased administrative time spent on getting authorizations we may charge a fee for getting the authorization. Fee is based on time spent on call and level of staffing required to get authorizations.
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