This document is available in PDF format for easy printing.

It is important that you not wear perfumes or scented items when coming to our office as we have patients with sensitivities.

OFFICE HOURS AND APPOINTMENTS
Clinic phone hours are Monday 9 - 12, Tuesday - Friday 9 - 12:00, 2:00 - 5. If our voice mail answers, please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Cancellations and Rescheduling:
For first-time appointments, there will be no charge for rescheduling or cancellation requests made at least 72 hours before the time of appointment. For follow-up appointments, we ask for 48 hours' notice. If we don't receive adequate notice, you will be charged for the full fee of the appointment, unless we are able to fill your appointment time with another patient. Appointments for IVs not canceled at least 24 hours in advance will be charged for the full price of the scheduled IV. Any changes (cancellations or rescheduling) for appointments scheduled for a Monday or Tuesday must be requested by noon on the previous Friday in order to avoid being charged. your appointment time is filled. Appointments scheduled for Monday must be cancelled by noon on the preceding Thursday.

CONTACTING OUR OFFICE
Please allow 24 hours for a response to your inquiries and requests. To eliminate confusion, please do not call more than one staff member in our office or contact us in more than one manner (fax, email, phone) about the same issue, unless you do not hear back from us. We may need 48 hours to handle more complex or less urgent matters.

Emergency Services: A variety of services are provided on an outpatient basis, but we do not admit patents to hospitals or make hospital rounds. It is highly recommended that you have an ongoing relationship with a general practitioner outside of this clinic who is available for emergencies and urgent care. Our doctors are not oncologists and our clinic does not treat cancer, although we may offer supportive care for cancer.

In the interest of keeping our office visit fees as low as possible, and due to the staff time involved in patient care, we must charge a fee for some services, as you will see throughout this informational document.

If you need to call just for clarification of the Doctor's instructions there will be no charge. If you email a simple question, we will email an answer at no charge. To provide you with optimal care when you have multiple or complex questions, and the Doctor needs to review your chart, there will be a minimum fee of $25. If your question requires further chart review, you may be asked to schedule a brief office visit or phone consultation with the Doctor at regular office fees.

We appreciate your understanding. Please talk to our Practice Manager if you have questions about any of our policies or procedures.

Email
Email requests are easier for us to respond to than phone calls, if this works for you. Email addresses available to you are:

Appointments@gordonmedical.com

Billing@gordonmedical.com

Labs@gordonmedical.com (see Regarding Lab Results)

Prescriptions@gordonmedical.com (see Prescriptions below)

Supplements@gordonmedical.com (see Supplements below)

 

Eric@gordonmedical.com (questions for Eric Gordon MD)

Denise@gordonmedical.com (questions for Denise Cooluris ND)

Jane@gordonmedical.com (questions for Jane Kennedy NP)

Justin@gordonmedical.com (questions for Justin Cauntay DO)

Neil@gordonmedical.com (questions for Neil Nathan MD)

Wayne@gordonmedical.com (questions for Wayne Anderson ND)

Win@gordonmedical.com (questions for Win Bertrand MD)

and info@gordonmedical.com (for other inquiries)

These emails will go directly to the person who can most efficiently help you with your particular inquiry or request.

If you feel you need to use secure email in your communication with us, please let us know and we will supply you with information on how to use secure email in accordance with current HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations.

Voice Mail
It is best if you can call during our regular office hours. We make every attempt to answer all of your calls. If we are busy with other callers, or if you call after hours, you will be asked to leave a message. Your call will be forwarded to the person who can best help you based on the information you leave on the voice mail. Please leave brief, concise messages.

Fax
We prefer to receive your medical inquires and supplement requests via fax or email. This often helps to clarify your needs and can save in response time. Be sure to include your name, (the patient's name, if different), your contact information (phone and fax number), and your GMA physician's name.

SUPPLEMENTS
If you need a refill on supplements from our office please send your list via fax or email (supplements@gordonmedical.com) at least 2 days before you plan on picking them up. Be sure to include your phone number and the date you will be picking them up. We will either have them ready or let you know if we are out of what you need and when we anticipate having it back in stock. We can UPS your supplements for an additional shipping and handling charge based on the actual cost of shipping plus approximately $5 packaging/handling fee.

If you want to pick up supplements when you have an appointment in our office, upon arrival, please let us know what you will need (if you know), and it will help us check you out faster when you leave.

Supplements may only be returned to this office for supplement credit if they are unopened and were purchased at GMA within the last 30 days. Products formulated by Byron White and purchased from GMA may be returned for credit or refund, if they were sealed at the time of purchase.

PRESCRIPTIONS
If you need a prescription refill, even if you have used all of the refills allowed on your prescription, you must ask your pharmacist to send a refill request to our office via fax (707-575-5509). If you are changing pharmacies, call your pharmacist; the new one will contact the old one for you.

If you need a new prescription filled, send us your request along with your name, contact phone numbers, GMA physician name, pharmacy information, drug name, strength and dose (if you know), via fax or email if possible.

For all non-triplicate prescriptions, please allow at least two working days (48 hours) for your request to be handled.

TRIPLICATE PRESCRIPTIONS
Allow at least 4 days for triplicate prescription refills to be processed. **You must have an office visit with the doctor at least every 3 months in order for us to continue to refill your triplicate prescription requests.**

There will be an administrative fee of $10 charged for "same day" prescription requests.

LAB TESTS AND RESULTS
Results for lab tests requested by our office are usually received within 3 weeks from the time the lab receives the specimen, with rare exceptions. (Some specialty labs do not have results for 45 days.) Therefore we ask that you schedule an appointment now to see your doctor three (3) weeks or more after:

a) You have blood drawn here;
b) You plan to go to your local lab;
c) You plan to mail your specimen with the kit we have given you.

Generally lab results require an office visit or phone consult in order to discuss the meaning of the labs and decide on a treatment plan. If the lab test was for something more acute, such as a urinary tract infection, of course you will not need to wait for an appointment.

Read more about our policy on lab test results.

FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENTS
After your initial appointment with the doctor, it is best to see the doctor in person for the next few appointments, and you may want or need to continue doing so. However, phone consults are available to you by appointment, and are charged the same as an office visit. The doctors' time is charged in 15-minute increments; for example, 12 minutes will be charged at the 15-minute rate. Insurance does not usually pay for telephone consultations.

Most office visits are scheduled for one half hour, however your second visit needs to be 45 minutes. If you feel you would like more time, please let the receptionist know, and you will be scheduled and charged accordingly.

It is recommended that you bring someone with you for your follow-up visits, as you were requested to do on your initial visit. There is always a lot of information to absorb. Please write your questions down and have them prioritized, as the doctor may not have time to address all of your questions on every visit.

If a patient has not seen the Doctor for over 2 years, or is coming in for an entirely new problem, additional time will be needed. Any patient receiving IV treatment in this office must have an appointment with the Doctor at least every 3 months in order to continue their IV therapy. All patients need to be seen in person on at least an annual basis in order for the doctor to continue to prescribe medications.

FEES AND INSURANCE BILLING
We charge a $50 blood-handling fee that is NOT billable to insurance. You are responsible for these fees and all injection fees at the time of service. Only the cost of some injectable medications will be billable to insurance, and if paid will only be a minimal amount. We do not send reports to insurance companies to justify IV and injection services.

See forms you were mailed or signed on your first office visit - Services Not Covered By Insurance, and Treatment and Payment Policy - for further information on what to expect regarding insurance reimbursement, and the types of services provided in our office for which insurance companies will not pay.

If you have questions regarding insurance reimbursement for any service in our office please ask before receiving the service.

PAYMENT POLICY
Payment of Fees: All fees are due in full at the time of service. Many of the services you may receive from GMA will not be eligible for reimbursement from your insurance company. On your first visit you will receive further information about our clinic, which will include the types of services generally not covered by insurance, as well as other information helpful to you as a patient.

We accept Master Card, Visa, ATM cards, personal checks and cash.

Cancellations and Rescheduling: For first-time appointments, there will be no charge for rescheduling or cancellation requests made at least 72 hours before the time of appointment. For follow-up appointments, we ask for 48 hours' notice. If we don't receive adequate notice, you will be charged for the full fee of the appointment, unless we are able to fill your appointment time with another patient. Appointments for IVs not canceled at least 24 hours in advance will be charged for the full price of the scheduled IV. Any changes (cancellations or rescheduling) for appointments scheduled for a Monday or Tuesday must be requested by noon on the previous Friday in order to avoid being charged.

Insurance: Gordon Medical Associates are not participating providers of any insurance company. We opted out of Medicare on October 1, 2005. You may not bill Medicare for services in this office, and insurance secondary to Medicare may or may not pay for services rejected by Medicare. We do not bill insurance directly. If you have health insurance we will be happy to provide you with a Superbill to send to your insurance company for reimbursement.

In all cases we need you to provide the information on our Payment Policy form so that we may send it to labs on your behalf. Some lab fees may be covered by insurance.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE FEES
In order to serve your needs for phone consults, letters, research, and records, supplement mailings or pick-ups "on the run," etcetera, we need to keep your credit card number and current expiration date on file. This will be protected (credit card numbers are encrypted) and maintained confidentially. We appreciate your cooperation with our front desk on this matter, as well as keeping us updated on any changes. Your card will not be charged without notification and appropriate authorization.

Disability and Related Letters: Patients needing disability or related letters must schedule an office visit with their GMA physician, and bring all the information needed to address the letter properly. Due to the time involved and the history that must be reviewed, there will be an additional charge above the office visit fee.

Medical Records Request: Request for the release of medical records must be authorized by the patient (or their guardian) before we can release a copy of your records. You can obtain a Records Release Form from our office or print it out on our web site. Please allow 10 business days for your request to be processed. Depending on the volume of records copied, there may be a reasonable charge assessed for the copies.

Research: If the doctor needs to spend time researching your particular issue there may be an additional fee. You will be notified if this is the case.

RECORD KEEPING
We do try to make a copy of all instructions the doctor has written for you, as well as lab slips and prescriptions you may be handed during your appointment. Before you leave, please help our front desk by letting them copy anything the doctor has given you.

Thank you.

Patient Info

Medical Info

Bios

Drug & Supplement Info

Recommended Reading

Directions

Order Your Own Supplements

Information Resources

Contact Us