What are the benefits of having a primary care doctor?
Having a primary care doctor you see regularly is key to your overall health. Through regular visits, your PCP gets to know you, your family history, and your lifestyle. You can develop a trusting relationship with your PCP that allows you to talk honestly and openly about your health concerns.
Your PCP helps you stay healthy by providing regular checkups and preventive health care screenings. Your PCP can help you successfully manage life-threatening and “silent” medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, cancer, and diabetes. Your PCP also can connect you to highly trained medical specialists when you need advanced or specialized care. When your care includes treatment from numerous health care specialists, your PCP can ensure you receive the best possible care.
Why is the Primary Care practice at the Healthcare Gallery different?
Not only can we take care of you like other primary care doctors do, but we take it a step further. We are a Patient-Centered Medical Home and make other recommendations not just from a wellness perspective such as helping you with improving your nutrition, but about improving your sleep hygiene and your physical fitness level as well.
What is a Patient-Centered Medical Home?
A Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is a special, modern way of providing healthcare that focuses on you, the patient. Here’s what it means and how it can help you:
1. Team Care: In a PCMH, you have a team of healthcare providers working together just for you. This team includes doctors, specialists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who collaborate to make sure you get the best care possible.
2. Whole-Person Focus: We care about your entire health, not just one issue. This means we look at your physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being to help you feel your best.
3. Coordinated Services: If you need to see a specialist or get other services, our team helps make that happen smoothly. We communicate with each other to avoid unnecessary tests and ensure you get consistent care.
4. Easy Access: You can reach us in different ways—by phone, text, email, or through our website. We want to make it easy for you to get answers and support when you need it.
5. Prevention and Health: We focus on keeping you healthy! This means providing regular check-ups and helping you manage any ongoing health issues.
6. Personalized Care: We listen to your needs and preferences. Your care plan is tailored to fit your unique lifestyle and goals.
By using the PCMH model, we aim to create a healthcare experience that puts you first. Your health and happiness are our top priorities!
If you have any questions about the Patient-Centered Medical Home or how it can benefit you, feel free to reach out to us.
Do you see children at the practice?
Though we are trained to see children, we have limited our Healthcare Gallery practice to adults 18 years and older at this time.
What sorts of questions should I discuss with my primary care physician?
Be open and honest with your physician about what’s going on with your health. Some questions to consider are:
- Are you experiencing painful or uncomfortable symptoms that interfere with your daily life?
- Is a medication you’re taking making you sick
- Do you need help making healthy decisions or lifestyle choices
- Are you experiencing and having trouble coping with stress, depression or sadness?
- Are you having trouble sleeping or with your marriage or children?
What can I expect as a New Patient?
Our office is completely paperless and we respond quicker through electronic communication rather than direct phone calls. As a result, the registration staff will ask you to complete your new patient registration online or through this link: (insert URL). To communicate with the office with regards to appointments requests, med refills or lab updates, we also ask that you download the “Healow” app and use our practice code “JGFDCA” to sign on.
What do I need to bring to my appointment?
Please bring ALL medications or supplements you are taking and a copy of your insurance card and personal identification card. If your insurance requires a co-pay/ deductible, please be prepared to pay that at the time of your visit. We can also collect that copay over the phone prior to your appointment if necessary.
How do I get a refill on my prescription?
We ask that you contact your pharmacy before your medication runs out to request a refill. They will then initiate a refill request with our office. Please note that any new medications may require a patient visit and that new prescriptions or refills can take up to 72 hours to complete. That said, please always be sure to call your pharmacy several days in advance before your medication runs out.
When will I get my lab tests, X-ray results, or other studies?
Lab tests, x-ray reports and studies may take up to 5 business days after they have been performed. We advise that if after 5 business days you have not heard back from our office, please log into the “Healow” app or Health Portal on our website, to verify results before calling our office.
What if I need advance imaging such as a CT, MRI, or Nuclear studies?
If you need to schedule an MRI, CT or Nuclear Study, please allow our office 5 – 7 business days to obtain authorization from your insurance company. Insurance companies require medical records from your physician be reviewed by the Insurance Company’s medical staff before an authorization can be obtained.
What if I need a referral to another provider?
If you need a referral, please schedule an appointment with your physician so information can be gathered so that the medical necessity can be documented prior to the referral being issued. This ensures that your insurance company will approve of the referral. This is the reason most insurance companies require that your Primary Care Physician has seen you prior to being sent to a specialist.
What is the Health Portal and how can I use it?
The Health Portal accessed through the “Patient Login” on the website or “Healow” app on your phone/iPad, enables you to communicate with your doctor, nurses and staff members easily, safely and securely from the comfort of your home. It can be used to request non-urgent medical advice, request appointments, obtain visit summaries, order medication refills and access patient education. Use our practice code “JGFDCA” to sign into the organization’s healow app to communicate with our practice. Otherwise, if you have pre-registered with our practice, you should have received a Welcome email with a link in the body of that email. Click on that link and use your email address and password sent to you to connect to the Health Portal.
Do you offer Telemedicine services?
We do offer telemedicine services but we must let you know that this service is very limited for now to minor complaints or simple issues. Complex care is more challenging to provide through a telemedicine visit, so we encourage in-person visits for this reason.
What if I need paperwork/forms to be completed by my Physician or would like to request my records?
Please be advised that ALL requests for medical records or forms that need to be completed such as FMLA, Disability and Life Insurance forms are performed by a third party company called Medicopy and may take up to 5 business days to complete. You can obtain more information on how to initiate a request for medical records or form completion here. Alternatively, you can complete this electronic medical records release form here to get that pro
