For the safety of our patients and staff, and in an effort to continue delivering the highest quality care, Pediatric Associates has made careful modification to our operational and financial policies. When you call to make an appointment, our staff will review these with you and answer any questions that you may have.
(Last updated 11/25/20)
Appointments
- Both offices see well child visits until 3:30pm and acute sick visits from 3:30pm to 5pm Monday through Friday. You must call for an appointment. Portsmouth weekday morning walk-in hours remain suspended until further notice.
- We continue to offer same-day sick appointments on Saturdays and Sunday in our Portsmouth office from 9am-12pm by appointment only.
- Through a partnership with Spruce Health, we now are able to provide virtual (video) visits as an option for safe remote care. Call our office during business hours to speak with a triage nurse and determine whether your child’s symptoms are suitable for a telemedicine appointment.
Screening
- You will be asked a series of screening questions when you call to book your child’s appointment, and again upon arrival to our office. We appreciate your candor and patience!
- If your child is a college student returning home from campus or has otherwise recently traveled, they will need to quarantine for 14 days before we will see them for their annual check-up; please speak with our triage nurse if there is a more urgent concern.
- Temperatures for both child AND caregiver will be taken by a staff member prior to entering the office, regardless of reason for visit or presence/absence of symptoms.
Check-In/Checkout
- Please call upon arrival to the parking lot for your child’s visit. This is to limit exposure to others upon entering the office. Our administrative staff may collect your copay over the phone at this time
- A staff member will meet you at the office front door to take temperatures for both child AND caregiver. You will then be escorted directly to an available clean exam room.
- In an effort to help patients socially distance in our hallways and at the front desk, our staff are scheduling your child’s next checkup in the exam room as often as possible, either at completion of the triage process or at the end of your visit with your pediatric provider.
Safety Measures in Office
- Only one symptom-free caregiver will be permitted to accompany children 2 months or older to any scheduled appointment. If two siblings are scheduled for simultaneous/back-to-back appointments, two caregivers will be permitted (one per child). We respectfully request that families also consider having only one caregiver accompany children under 2 months of age. Siblings without appointments should remain at home if at all possible.
- We all are wearing masks to protect you from anything we could have been exposed to. Any staff member with sick symptoms, recent travel, or possible exposure to COVID-19 is instructed to stay home. Our staff are having their temperatures taken each morning to prevent anyone from working with a fever inadvertently.
- In keeping with CDC recommendations, we request that all patients over age 2 years and their accompanying caregiver wear cloth masks to office appointments.
- Furthermore, patients and their accompanying caregivers should refrain from wearing valved masks to their appointments, as they can expel viral droplets into the air. Those who do arrive wearing valved masks will be provided with a disposable mask to place over their own mask (or wear instead of their own mask).
- Please keep masks on at all times while in the office.
- We are continuously cleaning and disinfecting all instruments, exam rooms, and high-touch surfaces.
Financial Obligation
Per guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, for a phone call with EITHER our triage nurse OR one of our providers that is more than 5 minutes in duration and results in a diagnosis and treatment plan, we may submit to your insurance as a telephone visit. You may choose to have a virtual (video) visit with a provider through the Spruce Health telemedicine platform instead, which is billed to your insurance the same as an in-person visit. Any associated fee not covered under your insurance plan becomes the responsibility of the patient/patient representative.
