Patient Responsibilities

The care you receive as a patient depends, in part, on your active participation. As your healthcare providers, we believe that you and your family can help us promote the safe delivery of care. These responsibilities include at least the following: • Providing information. You and your family are responsible for providing accurate and complete information including present complaints, past illnesses, hospitalizations, medications, previous surgeries, allergies, noticed risks in care, unforeseen changes in patient’s condition, and other matters relating to your health. • Asking questions. You and your family are responsible for asking questions when you do not understand what you have been told about your care. • Following instructions. You and your family are responsible for following the care, service, or treatment plan developed. You should express any concerns you have about your ability to follow and comply with the proposed plan or course of treatment. • Accepting results. You and your family are responsible for the outcomes if you do not follow the care, service, or treatment plan. • Following facility rules and regulations. You and your family are responsible for following the facility’s rules and regulations concerning patient care and conduct. • Showing respect and thoughtfulness. You and your family are responsible for being thoughtful of the facility’s personnel and property. • Meeting financial commitments. You and your family are responsible for promptly meeting any financial commitment agreed to with the facility. • Making and keeping appointments. You are responsible for keeping appointments and adherence to minimum required check-ins with this office. This is part of patient engagement. Our practice serves a large number of clients and we are unable to contact each individual for appointment reminders. *If you fail to contact this office for 90 days, or do not have an appointment scheduled, this will lead to your account being inactivated, a dismissal letter will be sent to your last address on file, and 30 days of medication to bridge you until you find another provider. • Why do I need to have an appointment scheduled, or to be seen so often? This practice is considered a specialist practice. There are a minimum number of required check-ins to ensure that the need for specialty care is required otherwise it is assumed the client is ‘healthy’ and ‘stable’ and can be managed by PCP. Checking in allows us to keep well-documented notes on your current diagnosis and to provide a paper trail for how the diagnosis has responded to medication/interventions. Checking in allows us to demonstrate to insurance companies the need for a particular medication in the event of prior authorization, or denial of services. Checking in is a safety requirement that must be maintained for psychiatric medications to be prescribed. Checking in allows us to capture potential changes in diagnosis, or symptoms quickly without it progressing to the acute stage of illness that may require hospitalization. Checking in is a mandatory requirement to remain an active patient with this practice