About our Practice

Why bring your child to a Pediatric Practice?

We offer our patients and families two types of professional expertise. A Pediatrician is a physician who specializes in the attainment of optimal physical, mental, and social health for infants, children and adolescents. After medical school, 100% of a Pediatrician's residency training is devoted to study of the health and illness of children and adolescents. He/She thereafter devotes 100% of his/her time to children. This is in sharp contrast to the family practice resident who spends 25-30% of his/her residency studying pediatrics and thereafter has active experience with pediatric patients only 18% of his/her professional time.

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner's (CPNP's) are pediatric registered nurses with advanced medical training and master's degrees in pediatric nursing. They are certified by national certifying agencies.

CPNP's perform well baby exams and diagnose and treat common acute and chronic illnesses and injuries. CPNP's  are dedicated to providing comprehensive compassionate care to children and their families.

We never stop learning about the care of children and can do a better job than someone who spends only a portion of his/her time with children. We care for and care about children. Why should you see anyone less qualified? Kids are here to stay and so are we!

Practice Philosophy

As our practice has grown, we continue our efforts to provide personalized care for all of our patients.

We offer:
Daily office hours at two locations.
Evening hours at our main office.
Saturday,  and Holiday hours at the main office.
Twenty-four hour availability of a Pediatrician.
Vaccines cannot be administered without the child's previous vaccine history.

In an effort to enhance the doctor/patient relationship, we recommend that you choose three physicians from the group. We will make every effort for you to see one of the three at all of your regular visits, and if possible, sick and emergency visits as well. You are welcome to choose one physician, and we will still try to do the above, but this makes it much more difficult. Naturally, if you are comfortable seeing all of the practitioners, this is fine with us. Having your child’s record available makes it easy for any of us to review his history and provide you with personalized care at that visit.

We want to help you make good use of your office visit with your child. We suggest you write down your questions and problems before hand.

Our hope is to assist you in guiding your children through their normal growth and development, spotting deviations from that norm if they appear, and advising on their management. Problems for discussion might include neurologic progress, discipline, feeding habits and diets, infections, school problems, sexuality, substance abuse, accident prevention and poison control as well as the trials of adolescence.

We know that raising children takes an enormous amount of time and energy on your part. If we can help in that growth toward responsible, loving, and independent adulthood and make it more enjoyable for both parent and child, then we are accomplishing our goals.

Appointments

We are always available for your child’s needs. There are unforeseen circumstances that limit our availability and necessitate your consideration.

1. Office hours are by appointment. Please call our office for a specific time.

2. If you have a request for a specific doctor, we will try to accommodate your need. If your child is ill, the doctor on-call will be available.

3. If you have a life-threatening medical emergency call 911. If you need immediate advice, call our office.

4. We do our best to see you for your appointment as soon as possible. There are circumstances beyond our control, such as when the doctors are away from the office for hospital emergencies. We need your understanding when this occurs.

5. If you have a scheduled appointment with us and need extra time for other family members, please call ahead so we can accommodate your needs.

6. Please feel free to talk with us regarding your concerns.

7. Failure to keep an appointment: A letter will be sent to our established patients reminding them of the missed appointment as well as a fee charged for the time scheduled.

8. Lancaster Pediatric Associates, Ltd. reserves the right to dismiss patients for failure to keep an initial appointment.

WALK IN/URGENT CARE APPOINTMENTS

8. Patients are evaluated by the next available provider. Additional charges apply.
 

Financial Policy

Insurance:

Beginning 3/01/10 we will be closed to new Gateway Health Plan patients.

Office Visits: We participate in many insurance plans. Please check with our business office regarding your insurance company. Patients should be aware of their individual plans. Some procedures are not covered under certain plans. Please bring all insurance cards to each visit. We do not bill non- participating insurance companies for office visits, but you may by sending a copy of your superbill to your company.

AIDP Form
(Assignment and Instruction for Direct Payment)

Please complete the AIDP form which we provide for each child and each insurance company, and notify us immediately if your insurance information changes.

Co-pays remain the responsibility of the parent at each visit. For your convenience we now accept MAC, VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. As a policy, physicians do not discuss billing problems with patients. Please discuss any billing or payment problems with the business office.

 Make copies of everything you send to your insurance company, and keep a personal file of all statements, payments, etc.

Additional Fees

1. Should you fail to keep an appointment
2. Fail to pay co-pay at the time of service
3. Returned checks
4. After hour/Emergency visits
5. All “Forms” other than completion during a well visit
6. Collection fees
7. Duplicate copies and/or Medical Records
 

Hospital Visits: We do submit claims for hospital care. If your insurance carrier has not paid your claim in 30 days, we suggest that you call them. At that time we will expect you to remit the balance in full, to us.

If you bring your child to an Emergency Room, please notify our managed care office, and we will O.K. the visit with your insurance company.

Hospital Affiliation:

Lancaster Pediatric Associates is on the active staff of Lancaster General Hospital and its Women's and Babies division.  Currently, this institution is the only hospital in Lancaster with an obstetric, nursery and pediatric service.

Preventive Care:

Lancaster Pediatric Associates is pleased to see children from birth through age 21. The following is a schedule for preventive care visits for well children. This schedule will vary at the doctor's discretion.

• 6 visits until age one

• 4 visits from age one until age three

• 1 visit every year for ages three to five years

• The AAP recommends annual check ups beginning at age 6 (Please check with your insurance company regarding coverage).

PIAA Sports physicals must be performed after June1st of each year. If a physical was done prior to June 1st of the same year a new physical is needed.  For further information visit the PIAA website at www.piaa.org .
 

Learner's Permit

For drivers exams your physical must be within 1 year and can not be more than 6 months before the patient's 16th birthday. If your physical is up to date a nurse only appointment will be required to update height, weight and blood pressure.

The patient must be in our office to have the form completed.

Please CLICK to read the Vaccine Policy.

Immunization Schedule:

A current immunization schedule is as follows. Please be advised that immunizations are dynamic and change is to be expected. A parent or guardian must be present to give consent for vaccines to be administered to any patient less than 18 years of age.

Immunization Alternative

State Health Department
1661 Old Philadelphia Pike
Lancaster, PA
299-7597

All immunizations given on
Thursday
8:30 – 11:00 A.M.
1:15 – 2:30 P.M.
$5.00 change – depending on family income
(Payable by check or money order only)
per child per visit
Free if no insurance or on Medical Assistance
APPOINTMENT NEEDED.
Please take Immunization Record with you.

Lancaster General Hospital
Child Protect Program
544-3138

· Free Immunizations offered at various
Countywide locations to families without
Health Insurance.
· Please take Immunization Record with you.
· Schedules published in local newspapers or available at LPA.

 

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