Briarpatch Pediatrics | Practice Policies

At Briarpatch Pediatrics, we do our best to accommodate your scheduling needs and offer appointments based on the availability of our office locations. If you learn that your child is unable to make a scheduled appointment, please give our offices the appropriate notice and call 24 hours in advance. Failure to notify 24 hours in advance and missing a scheduled appointment in considered a “No-Show”, as is a same-day cancellation. This may result in a $50 no-show fee for missed Well Visits and Follow-up appointments. A $75 no-show fee may be charged for missed Behavioral Health and Medication check appointments.

Although we understand that unforeseen circumstances arise, when patients don’t take the time to properly cancel, we are unable to see other children in need of an appointment. For this reason, our practice enforces a strict limit of three no-show appointments per patient. An appointment is considered a no-show if the parent or guardian fails to inform the office of an inability to arrive at the scheduled time. This applies to all appointment types, whether they are same day sick visits, or previously scheduled physicals, medication checks, or consults. After a patient’s third no-show, a warning letter will be mailed to the parent or legal guardian regarding the missed appointments. After this warning, any subsequent no-shows may eventually result in dismissal from our practice.

In consideration of your time and that of other patients, we allow a ten-minute grace period for all appointments. Once a patient is over ten minutes late, we may have to reschedule his or her appointment depending on provider availability. Appointments may be moved to a later time the day of the missed appointment or rescheduled for a different time and date.

Please advise our staff if you have changed insurance coverage. Work and auto related injuries must be billed through third party liability carriers, such as workers compensation and auto insurance. Copays and deductibles are an amount set by your insurance, and are often required for office visits, and annual checkups. Copays are due on the day of your scheduled appointment.

Past due balances must be satisfied before your next scheduled appointment. If a balance exists on your account at the time of a visit, the office reserves the right to reschedule your appointment until the balance is paid.

If you have any questions regarding insurance, contact our administrative manager or billing staff at 508-833-0269.

Briarpatch Pediatrics has 24/7 on-call coverage with the well-being of your child in mind. Unless he or she is having a medical emergency that requires immediate medical aid, please call our office before taking your child to the emergency room or urgent care as we are often able to provide medical assistance in our office, and are always more than happy to help.

At every well child check, your child will receive a school/camp form, including his or her up-to-date vaccination record as well as a summary of the most recent physical exam. We suggest parents/guardians make copies of this form for their own personal records, and to give to school or camps when needed. This record is valid for thirteen months after the date of the initial exam and must be renewed with a new well child check annually.

When requesting a new copy of your child’s school/camp form, please allow 24 hours for the form to be filled out. You may request this form to be faxed, mailed, or picked up at either of our on-cape locations. Additionally, your child’s vaccination history and most recent physical exam are available via MyChart, our online portal. If you need a copy of your child's health form subsequent to the one given at the physical, you may print it from MyChart or pay a $10 fee for a physical copy to be mailed or picked up in office.

When calling to request an insurance referral, please provide the date of the scheduled appointment, the performing physician’s full name, the practice fax number, the reason for the appointment, and the provider NPI number. To get this information, simply call the office of the doctor your child is being referred to and ask to speak with the front desk. Given the volume of referral requests, please allow one week for referral processing.

We request patients utilize our patient portal, where they have easy access to immunization records, office visit notes, and can request medication refills and contact our health care staff. Having a medical concern you would like to speak with a provider about? Simply send a message through the portal for easy, reliable contact and results. Parents are also able to schedule appointments through the portal by messaging our office staff.

Over the years, we develop meaningful relationships with the families and children who make up our practice. However, due to insurance and practice regulations, each of our patients must move on to an adult care facility once they have completed school. Although it's necessary for every child to eventually transition out of pediatric care, this transition can be a difficult change for patient, parent, and provider. Please be aware that conversations regarding this move may begin as early as age sixteen. It is our goal to make your child’s transition as comfortable and stress-free as possible, which is why our practice has a team in place to assist you with any questions or concerns during his or her shift in primary care.

In order to transfer your child’s medical records to a new practice, we must have a signed medical release by either the parent/guardian or the patient if he or she is over eighteen years old. In accordance with Massachusetts state law, there is a transfer fee for each requested medical record. Copies of the records are available on an encrypted thumb drive and may be picked up in our Sandwich office or mailed to the new health care provider. Please allow one week for the processing of all medical record requests.

Briarpatch Pediatrics fully participates in the Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS), and carefully implements a vaccination schedule in keeping with the American Academy of Pediatrics’. Our practice holds the health and wellness of your child above all else, and for this reason, we ask that parents and guardians follow the vaccination plan we set for our patients. Failure to vaccinate in a timely manner may result in dismissal from our practice for the protection of our patients.

For more information about pediatric immunizations, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at www.cdc.gov, or the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at www.aap.org.