Payment Policy
Payment for services is due in full at the time of the appointment. We accept cash, MasterCard, Visa and Discover cards, and checks with proper ID. There will be a small billing fee levied on outstanding charges.
Billing Questions
If you have any billing questions please contact our billing company at 866-740-9649 from 10AM to 5PM. Please have your account number handy when you call. It is located in the top right corner of the patient's statement.
Online Payments
Please see our Online Payments page for the latest on this payment option.
Immunization Policy
The Pediatricians at Village Pediatrics are troubled by widespread, unfounded, media driven fears about vaccine safety. Childhood vaccination is one of the greatest success stories of modern medicine. Safe and effective immunization has resulted in the virtual elimination of many serious childhood diseases in this country. We have long ago forgotten what it was like to see a child with polio relegated to life in an iron lung, or to know a youngster made blind, deaf, and vegetative by bacterial meningitis. Hundreds of millions of children have grown to healthy and productive adulthood because of vaccines. And we now have two vaccines that prevent cancer.
This has not been the universal experience. In the developing world a quarter of a million children die of measles every year, and many more are left with permanent brain damage. Bacterial meningitis and soft-tissue or blood infection have equally bad outcomes. Polio still cripples children. Babies die from vaccine preventable diarrhea. Modern jet travel makes it likely that infected people will unwittingly enter the United States from abroad. Recent measles outbreaks in San Diego and Long Island were caused by travelers from Europe and Israel; the victims were largely unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children. We have had preventable childhood deaths in Philadelphia and Minneapolis because a vaccine was temporarily unavailable. Ordinary Influenza kills over 36,000 Americans every year.
A number of years ago a vocal minority became suspicious that the preservative thimerosal caused autism. No linkage was ever established, but thimerosal was removed from all infant vaccines. This had absolutely no effect on the increasing incidence of autism.
There are unfounded fears that Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccination causes autism. Many large studies have concluded that there is no link between the vaccine and that disorder. Special vaccine courts have refused to accept a connection. An oft cited article in Lancet purporting a connection has been withdrawn; the Editors comment was, “We (all) really messed up.” The British have revoked the license of Andrew Wakefield, the article’s lead author. They concluded that he acted dishonestly, unethically, and in “callous disregard” for the suffering of children. The best available data inform us that no vaccine or vaccines, (in any combination, with or without preservative,) cause autism.
Individuals and groups that oppose vaccines for whatever reason try to make a case that the “antigenic challenge” to an infant’s immune system is somehow dangerous. That is qualitative and quantitative foolishness. The antigenic challenge of a single ear infection is greater than that of all vaccines given over a lifetime…combined.
Infants are highly vulnerable to Pertussis, meningitis, measles, mumps, German measles, chicken pox, and influenza. They also face greater group exposure/risk than most adults. From a public health standpoint, it is almost impossible to contain any epidemic without immunizing infants and children. That is why there are recommendations they be immunized as early as possible and requirements to be met before daycare or school attendance.
Unimmunized or incompletely immunized pre-adolescents/ adolescents are at risk for whooping cough, meningitis, chicken pox, hepatitis and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The hepatitis B vaccine your baby gets at birth was the first anti-cancer vaccine in history. It prevents chronic hepatitis and liver cancer for life. Gardasil, a vaccine given at 10-11 years of age, protects against the most common STI and prevents cervical cancer in adulthood. Adults need to be immunized for whooping cough, (Adacel). Their childhood immunizations wore off long ago. It is recommended that women receive this vaccine immediately after childbirth. Unimmunized adults risk bringing this dangerous disease home to susceptible babies and elderly relatives.
Modern vaccines are tested exhaustively before licensing, and undergo continuous surveillance after release. They are taken out of production if there is even a suggestion or a suspicion that they might be contaminated or dangerous. Infrequently, individuals may have serious side effects, but the safety record is extremely good.
In accordance with the guidelines established through the American Academy of Pediatrics, we feel that every child should receive these important vaccines in a timely fashion. Please see "Your Child's Visits" in our medical advice section for a full listing of our physical exam and vaccination schedule.
If you have questions or concerns about vaccines, the following websites can provide important and appropriate information:
Telephone Care
The pediatricians at Village Pediatrics are committed to providing our patients and families access to quality medical care every day and every hour of the day. We want to keep your children healthy and happy. Our doctors are on call 24/7 in order to ensure that the physicians here, who care for your children, are able to provide evaluation and guidance to you for your family. Giving you the option of telephone visits is just one way that we plan to meet that commitment.
Telephone care is the delivery of meaningful medical care over the telephone; often it might replace an office visit. Village Pediatrics has decided to participate in a national medical trend to increase our delivery of telephone care. Whenever possible, determined by the child's illness, we may be able to provide a pediatrician's evaluation and management of minor illnesses without an office visit.
The cost of telephone care averages 25% of an office visit for minor illnesses/medication changes. The pediatrician will decide if your request can be handled efficiently and competently over the phone. The cost difference is due to the savings found from the extra costs of providing offices, staff, building costs etc., that we pay when your child comes into the office.
Electronic health records allow the Pediatrician full access to your child's chart in and out of the office.
Studies have shown that telephone care is well accepted by patients and doctors. In certain clinical circumstances telephone care can provide patients with a safe, efficient alternative to office visits. This saves the patients time and money. Telephone care can be delivered during or after regular office hours by any one of our providers.
Telephone care includes management or consultation related to immediate medical needs. Telephone care still involves physician time, expertise and documentation of the medical care delivered and is therefore recognized as patient care. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports charging for telephone care under appropriate circumstances and we do so.
We will bill your health plan for specific types of phone calls between between you and our office. We do not typically charge for urgent calls related to a previous visit, or one that results in a visit to the office in the next 24 hours. You may be responsible for all or part of the payment depending on your individual health plan benefit coverage and deductibles. We encourage you to contact your health plan to determine their coverage for telephone care.
We will submit a charge for the following types of telephone calls:
- Minor illnesses which can be evaluated by parent or caregiver responses to questions that allow the physician to competently diagnosis and prescribe treatment. This would be for illnesses such as conjunctivitis (pinkeye), otitis externa (swimmer's ear), mild rashes, and others.
- Phone calls for ADHD/asthma meds IF the doctor does not require a face to face visit.
You always have the option to make an office appointment or have your child seen emergently at the hospital rather than receiving telephone care.
|
Policies
