Patients,
Welcome to our clinic and thank you for choosing Fernando Carreno, M.D. Family Practice & Obstetrics. This is an introductory letter to explain how you as a patient can help our practice run more efficiently to better serve you. I am a Family physician and obstetrician. which means from time to time I may be called out during office hours to deliver babies, when this happens you will be notified by the receptionist that there will be a delay, at which time, you will have the option to wait or reschedule your appointment. Any other appointment cancellation must be called in 24 hours prior to appointment time, or there will be a $20.00 no show fee. We realize that your time is valuable and all efforts will be made to accommodate you.

In this age of managed care, there are many procedures and time consuming paper work that insurance companies require. To insure quality and effective service please be sure that I am documented as your primary care physician (PCP). For our managed care patients, such as, HMO Plans that require referrals to other physicians, forms are sent first to the insurance company. All approvals or denial decisions are made by the insurance company, at which point they are then sent to the respective physician to make an appointment. This may take seven to ten working days. Walk-in requests for referrals will not be accepted.

Managed care patients with HMO's, please be informed that many HMO companies require hospitalist, that is, Doctors that are in the hospital to be your attending physician during your stay in the hospital. I will not be able to see you during your time in the hospital.

All Medicare and Medicaid patients must have current cards or letters at time of appointment. If these documents are not available at time of visit, receptionist will have to reschedule your appointment until necessary documents can be produced. Our office will not call the Medicare or Medicaid office to verify coverage. We value our patients and to insure the efficiency of the office, certain guidelines must be met. The patient is also responsible for informing receptionist of any address or telephone number change. This will insure that letters with lab and/or x-ray results will be sent to it's proper recipient. Current telephone numbers are necessary for the receptionist to be able to confirm and remind patients of appointments.

Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a lunch break that runs from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Prescription refill request's are from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., and again from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday with additional hours on Wednesday afternoons, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Calls for new prescriptions or refills at any other time will not be accepted.

Also in regard to prescriptions for controlled substances such as pain medications, (Lortabs, Darvocet, etc.), will only be written for one month at a time. I will not authorize refills on these type of drugs over the phone, nor will any physician that may be on call for me. All prescriptions for pain medication will be picked up at the office.

We hope that this information is helpful for you in an effort to make your visit a pleasant experience. Our office staff will greatly appreciate any suggestions you may have to better serve you. If you have any concerns and would like to speak to me personally, please leave your name and number with the receptionist, and I will call you back at my earliest convenience. Your cooperation in these matters will be appreciated.

Again, myself and my staff thank you for choosing us and look forward to serving you.

Fernando Carreño M.D.