Policies
Welcome to South East Bay Pediatric Medical Group. We strive to provide our patients with the highest quality medical care. In an effort to foster a collaborative relationship, we ask that you review our office policy so that you understand your responsibilities in this relationship. Our goal is to provide and maintain an excellent physician patient relationship. Letting you know our office policy in advance allows for an effective flow of communication and enables us to achieve our goal. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask a member of our staff.
South East Bay Pediatric Medical Group (SEBPMG) reserves the right to make changes in this policy as needs arise. For the most updated policy, please refer to our website.
New Patients
New patients are always welcome! Our goal is to provide the best medical care for your infant, child, or teenager on an ongoing basis, whether it be for routine, ill, or urgent care. We provide care for all children from newborns to young adults through age 21. Routine physical exams are scheduled at least 1-2 weeks in advance depending on availability. For sick or urgent visits, we make every effort to see your child on the same day you call for an appointment.
Please check with your insurance plan to make sure that the physician you have chosen at South East Bay Pediatrics is part of your insurance network. If you have trouble finding out whether or not we are a part of your plan, please feel free to contact us directly with your insurance information and we may be able to help you. For a comprehensive list please visit our website. Effective January 11, 2022, South East Bay Pediatric Medical Group is an affiliate of UCSF Benioff Children’s Physicians (UBCP). You can also call your insurance plan and confirm that you are in network with “Bay Children’s Physicians” Tax ID #47-1370520.
My Chart
Patients need to create a MyChart account ASAP. You can find step by step instructions on how to create a MyChart account on our website or use the UCSF Health website. A MyChart account will allow you to:
- Send a message to the office staff or your provider
- Request Refills
- See lab results
- Receive post-visit summaries
- Request appointments
Appointments
Our regular office hours are from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday. On weekends we are open from 8:30 am to 11:00 am Saturday and Sunday for same-day urgent care by appointments ONLY.
Please call ahead for appointments: make it clear if you need a full physical check-up, a sick visit, or a followup and provide a brief idea of the patient’s problem so that we can schedule the appropriate type of visit. . If several family members are ill and need to be seen at the same time, please let us know beforehand as we are not able to accommodate multiple family members in a single appointment. We will happy to make a separate appointment for each child to help the office run on schedule and minimize waiting times for other patients. We also greatly appreciate your prompt arrival 15 minutes prior to your appointment to allow time for previsit procedures (checking insurance, parents temperatures, your child vital sign and chief complaint) to be done so the doctors can actually see you at your proper appointment time . If you have a change in address or insurance, please arrive 30 minutes early to allow extra time to update this information.
If you are more than 10 minutes late for your scheduled appointment, we may need to reschedule your visit. There is a $50 fee for missed appointments (please see Financial Policy for more information).
During regular office hours, we DO NOT accept “walk-ins” or “drop-ins” without an appointment.
Should you come to the office without an appointment during regular office hours, we will do our best to schedule your child with the next available appointment. There can be a 1-2 hour wait before this availability occurs; therefore, we always encourage you to call for an appointment first.
Urgent Issues/Emergencies
It is always best to call the office during office hours if your child becomes ill during the day. Same-day visits will be scheduled for urgent problems, if possible. If your child appears to have an urgent problem, or becomes ill after regular business hours or on a holiday/weekend, please call our main office number. You will be put into contact with a pediatric advice nurse or the on call doctor, who will help to direct your child’s care. Please note that there is a charge of $35.00 for telephone advice provided outside of normal clinic hours.
We have limited office hours on most holidays, weekends, and evenings for urgent issues. On weekends, please try to call as early as possible after 8:30 A.M. as appointment slots fill rapidly. Again, we do not accept any “walk-ins” or “drop-ins” without an appointment.
Telephone Advice
We are happy to answer any questions and to address any concerns that you may have about your child. Please call the office during office hours if your child becomes ill during the day, or for non-urgent problems, ongoing problems, or routine child care issues (e.g. feeding, sleep, and behavior questions). Your doctor or a staff member will call you back with advice or to schedule an appointment if necessary. There will be a $35.00 charge for all telephone advice provided outside of normal clinic hours.
Any telephone advice and/or assessment with the physicians may incur a charge.
Prescription Refills
For prescription refills, please contact your pharmacy first and ask them to fax us a refill authorization request. Our fax number is (510) 792-3420.Prescription refill requests are accepted Monday to Friday, and we require a notice of at least two (2) business days. Please plan accordingly.
Please note that controlled substances, such as ADHD medications, are handled differently due to the nature of these medications. Please refer to our policy on controlled substances for specific details.
Caution:
Some pharmacies may automatically generated refill requests which were not in response to any patient request or provider order. In order to protect your child’s safety as well as to prevent unnecessary expense, all medication refills should be reviewed by a medical provider to make sure that the medication is still indicated. Therefore, if you are contacted by a pharmacy asking you to pick up a medicine for your child that you were not expecting to be prescribed or refilled, please call our office before filling the medication.
Patient Safety/Supervision
For the safety of all of our patients, you always need to remain with your children during appointments. Excluding specific situations in which confidentiality of a minor patient is medically necessary during evaluations, or in special circumstances with the express permission or SEBPMG staff, all minors (even those who are not patients) must be accompanied by a parent or designated adult over the age of 18, who remains on site at all times.
SEBPMG strives to maintain a safe and child-friendly office, but some of our office equipment and medical equipment may present a risk of injury to unsupervised children. For this reason, children should generally be kept away from and never allowed to play on countertops, office furniture, or other equipment that is not expressly intended for play. In addition, please supervise children at all times, and please comply with any requests by our staff to keep your child safe while at SEBPMG.
Vaccination Policy
SEBPMG’s policy on vaccination is based on the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for immunizations and the California School and Childcare Immunization Requirements.
Our doctors strongly believe that vaccination is an important part of keeping children as healthy as possible. Under-vaccinated children are at risk for getting vaccine-preventable illness and pose an increased risk even to the children who are vaccinated. If you choose not to vaccinate your child or do not meet the minimum vaccination requirements outlined in SEBPMG’s Vaccination Policy, SEBPMG may elect to discontinue care of your child. Modified vaccination schedules may be considered on a case-bycase basis, but we require that the minimum vaccination requirements be met.
Read SEBPMG’s Vaccination Policy.
Privacy Policy
Pursuant to federal regulations, it is the policy of SEBPMG that all physicians and staff must preserve the integrity and the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI) pertaining to our patients. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that our practice and its physicians and staff have the necessary medical and PHI to provide the highest quality medical care possible while protecting the confidentiality of the PHI of our patients to the highest degree possible. Patients can provide confidential information to our physicians and staff with full confidence that their protected health information will remain private and confidential.
Our Privacy Policy describes how our practice and its physicians and staff protects PHI. Please read the complete Privacy Policy.
Red Flag Rules
Per the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), businesses, including physician practices, are required to implement identity theft prevention measures. SEBPMG has implemented the following measures to verify identity:
- Identity verification will be required at the time patients are checked into the office. Parents and/or legal guardians bringing patients in for an appointment will need to present a photo identification in order to be registered.
- If parents and/or legal guardians are unable to bring their children in for an appointment and instead designate another adult (over 18 years of age) to serve as the child’s guardian during the appointment, parents must first sign a Consent for Treatment by Designated Guardian Form and this form must be presented at the time of the visit. The designated guardian will also need to bring valid photo identification to the visit.
Patients 18 Years and Above
SEBPMG treats patients up to a maximum age of 21 years old. While we understand that continuity of care and having a longstanding relationship with your provider are important aspects of good medical care, SEBPMG providers are specialists in treating pediatric patients.
When a patient turns 18 and becomes a legal adult, privacy and confidentiality rights prevent SEBPMG from sharing any PHI with parents/guardians in virtually all situations, unless the adult patient has previously signed a valid Authorization to Release Protected Healthcare Information naming the individual with which information can be shared, and specifying what information can be shared. Please understand that this applies even if the adult patient is still covered under a family health insurance policy, or is otherwise still a dependent of their
parents/guardians. Also, the prohibition on sharing PHI applies to information about all treatment, even treatment that was received when the patient was still a minor (and to which the parent/guardian previously had full access).
We understand that, as forms and other paperwork are becoming increasingly burdensome for families, this change in privacy and confidentiality can present as an unwelcome and frustrating surprise. We encourage families to prepare for this eventuality as patients approach their 18th birthdays, and perhaps use it as an opportunity to discuss the patient’s own desires around their medical care, as well as the other important changes that accompany the onset of adulthood.
Most importantly, we hope that you understand SEBPMG’s need to adhere to state and federal regulations while providing great service to families, and delivering the best medical care possible to our patients.