Office Information

We see all patients on an appointment basis. Please always arrive 10 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment.  The reason for your visit will determine how soon you need to be seen and how much time to allow for your visit. Please schedule a physical/preventative care visit at least two months in advance. If you are unable to keep an appointment, please notify us 24 hours prior to your appointment. Our after-hours office answering system allows you to leave an appointment cancellation message when our office is closed.

Appointment Hours:

Monday - Friday:  7:30am - 4:30pm

Watkin, Nipple Associates would like to clarify the utilization of our office in emergency situations. While we understand your primary care provider (PCP) may know you best, there are some symptoms that can change rapidly and could represent potentially life-threatening emergencies.

In many of these situations, timing is critical. You may require immediate attention to prevent progressive damage to vital organs. The emergency department of the nearest hospital is where this care is best provided.

These symptoms/situations may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Chest pain – possible symptom of a heart attack. Other symptoms of a heart attack may include chest pressure, like an elephant standing on your chest, pain down one or both arms, pain radiating up the neck, sweating, nausea.
• "Significant" shortness of breath or trouble breathing – possible sign of a problem with your heart or your lungs.
• Severe abdominal pain – may require "stat" blood work, special diagnostic tests, or evaluation by a surgeon.
• Loss of movement or sensation in an arm or leg: difficult speaking – possible signs of a stroke.
• Severe bleeding/hemorrhage – requires immediate care to control the bleeding; surgery may be required.
• Allergic reaction/Anaphylaxis – swelling of the mouth, tongue or throat, difficulty swallowing, trouble breathing or feeling faint
• Certain traumatic injuries if concern about fracture or serious laceration which may require specialty care.

If you are uncertain of how to manage a particular situation, please do not hesitate to call our office. However, do not delay accessing emergency services while awaiting recommendations or a return call from our office.

Most importantly, if a life-threatening emergency arises, please go immediately to the nearest emergency department or call 911.

• Aetna/US Healthcare - Aetna Golden Choice - Aetna Medicare PEBTF
• Bravo Health
• Capital Blue Cross/KHPC (all products including Medicare PPO)
• ChoiceCAre/Humana
• Cigna
• EHP Significa
• First Health (part of HealthAmerica effective 2/1/08)
• Geisinger Health Plan
• Great-West
• HealthAmerica (Health Assurance CCPPO, Health Assurance PPO, Hershey Managed Care/Health Style) Advantra Freedom
• Highmark Blue Shield (Premier Blue, Traditional, Blue Chip, POS, Direct Blue, PPO, Select Blue, FreedomBlue)
• Intergroup
• Mailhandlers
• Medicare
• PHCS (Private Healthcare Systems)
• Prime Health Services
• PrimeSource Health Network
• Railroad/Travelers Medicare
• Teamsters (Administered by HealthAmerica)
• Tricare/HealthNet Federal Services (includes Tricare Reserve Select which is the same as Tricare Standard)
• United Health Care/Oxford Health Plan (includes United Healthcare Choice Plus) - Not PAR with Empire UHC
• United Mine Worker's Health & Retirement
• ++ Optional
  
  **Please refer to your individual insurance plan for Diagnostic & Lab Study coverage.
  
• NOTE: We do 'Not' participate with discount cards although patients are welcome to see a provider as self-pay and submit the claim for reimbursement.
• 
  NOTE:  Insurances subject to change without notice.

**We now send in prescriptions to retail and mail order pharmacies electronically.  Only controlled substances are still handwritten or faxed.**

At Your Office Visit:
We want our patients to take the correct medication and the correct dose. To ensure this we strongly suggest bringing all of your medication bottles with you to each appointment or a deailed list of all prescriptions and over the counter medications.  If you bring a list, please include the following:

• Name of the medication
• Strength/dose of the medication
• Frequency of taking the medication
• Quantity – do you need a 30 or 90 day supply, or a special request such as 14 day supply until mail order is recieved.
• Number of refills requested. For most routine medications our goal will be to be give a year supply to avoid having to handle refill request more often. We will not refill medications for patients who have not kept regular appointments (at least once a year for the problem).
• Name and phone number of your pharmacy. Shopping at one pharmacy is safer; many pharmacies run a drug interaction program for every refill – this is only good if the list of drugs is complete (including herbs and over-the-counter medications).

**Please give the medical assistant your medications or a list of medications when you are taken back to the exam room.  We would like for you to obtain all refills at your regular office visits. This is the most efficient way for you and for us.

**Please check all your bottles for any necessary refills BEFORE your next regularly scheduled appointment.  If you are unsure, the medical assistant will be able to check your bottles at your appointment and process the appropriate refills for you.

Calling the Office for a Refill:
When calling the office for necessary refills follow the correct prompts and use our automated syatem.  The following list is the necessary informaton needed to ensure he correct medications are filled:

• Patients name , date of birth and contact number
• Name of the medication, with spelling.  Please note if you are required to take Brand Necessary or if Generic is ok.
• Strength/dosage, how often it is taken (once a day, twice a day, etc.), and the monthly supply (30 or 90 days)
• Please specify if you would like to pick up the prescription, have it mailed to your home, or sent to your pharmacy.  We will need Pharmacy name , location and/or telephone number.

In order to process each patient referral, we must have at least three working days notice. This will ensure there is adequate time for your physician to review your chart and the referral department to prepare your referral. It is the policy of both your insurance company and this office that paper referrals be hand carried to the specialist. Advance notification and timely pick-up of your referral form will maximize the efficiency of the referral process.

Please remember that most insurance companies require us to authorize all CT and MRI studies. Please ensure these authorizations have been obtained by the office who ordered your diagnostic study.

The referral desk is happy to answer any questions or assist you in any way between the hours of 9:00am and 4:00pm Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

Our receptionists have been trained to ask the nature of your problem when you call. They will discuss your questions with one of the providers and relay the answers and instructions to you. You can reach our office between the hours of 8:00am and 4:45pm. Unless there is an emergency, our staff will not interrupt the providers while they are seeing patients. Emergency calls received outside these hours will be handled by our answering service.  Phones are signed out to our answering service from 11:45am to 1:15pm for lunch.

ROUTINE calls for non-urgent scheduling, prescription refills, billing department, and referral department should be made between 9:00am -4:30pm Monday through Friday. *Please be aware Monday morning is a high-volume call day. If it is appropriate to call later in the week, please do so.

Weekends and After Normal Business Hours Phone Calls should be of an URGENT/EMERGENCY nature which cannot wait until Monday morning.