Policies

Patients are seen on an appointment basis. Our office is available to assist you in scheduling your child’s appointment. You may call our office to schedule your child’s appointment any time during our normal business hours. Weekend or holiday visits are reserved for same-day sick children, follow-up visits requested by a provider, and for newborns that need to have their weight checked. We do not schedule well child visits on weekends. To help provide timely service to our patients, please plan to arrive 10-15 minutes before your scheduled appointments. Any appointments more than 10 minutes late will be rescheduled.

If you would like us to see more than one child, please schedule an appointment for all of your children who need to be seen. This allows the provider to spend appropriate time with each child. Without an appointment, we may not be able to see a sibling, and/or you may be asked to wait while the provider sees a scheduled patient who may be waiting.

We want to be certain that you are aware of potential associated costs for behavioral health services in the office. Please note that your insurance provider may send behavioral health costs to your deductible, you will be responsible to pay for all associated costs related to behavioral health services. Please contact your insurance carrier to determine all the out of pocket costs for behavioral health services.

In order to provide the best patient care, we ask that you notify the office if you are unable to keep your scheduled appointment. This policy was developed to provide same day appointments for those who need to be seen. If someone makes an appointment and does not show up or cancel in a timely manner, then we have lost an available appointment for another child who may be acutely ill. In fairness to other patients and providers, we require at least 24 hours notice to cancel appointments.

• There will be a $50 fee for NO SHOW or same day cancellation for follow up.
• There will be a $75 fee for NO Show or same day cancellation for Physical Exam.
• These fees are not billed to insurance companies
• The Practice reserves the right to dismiss patients with three or more missed or cancelled appointments without adequate notice.

Flanders Pediatrics endorses, supports, and participates in electronic Health Information Exchange (HIE) as a means to improve the quality of your health and healthcare experience. This program allows better patient care by allowing hospitals, labs, specialists, and primary care to exchange patient information in a central location on a web based portal. Connecticut is currently an opt-in State, therefore all patients are automatically enrolled unless they choose to opt-out. Please be assured all patient data is safe, secure, and follows all HIPAA policies. If for any reason you would like to opt-out, please ask the front desk staff for a form.

As a courtesy to you, we will accept “assignment of benefits” and will bill your insurance carrier, assuming proper paperwork is provided to us. Every effort will be made to closely estimate your co-payments, which are due at the time of service, but the ultimate responsibility for the unpaid balance rests with the parent/guardian. It will be your responsibility to call your insurance company and check on the status of the claim. Any non-covered charges by your insurance carrier will require payment in full at the time services are provided or upon notice of insurance claim denial. We suggest that you review the terms of your policy in full so that you understand what services are covered. If you have any questions regarding your policy, please contact your insurance company, as we cannot be responsible for knowing specifics of each insurance plan.

Financial policies and extended payments may be discussed with our billing staff or Office Manager. The billing policy can only be overridden with manager’s approval. If you have questions regarding your bill please contact the office manager.

FMLA, camps, or college forms are completed in a timely manner. There is a charge assigned to the various requested forms. The office ask for 7-10 days to complete those forms. Must have a physical within the past 12 months.

Our office uses either L&M Hospital or Quest Diagnostics Lab Services. Typically these labs accept most insurance plans. However, please notify the staff if your insurance plan requires lab requisitions to be sent to another lab. Please contact your insurance should you have any questions. You will receive separate charges from the lab, these charges are not billed by Flanders Pediatrics and you should call the labs with any question.

For ongoing medications, please submit requests for prescription refills to your

pharmacy. Medication refills are provided to our patients who are up-to-date on all

required well-child checks and chronic disease visits (that is every six months for ADHD

and asthma management for well controlled patients or more frequently on as needed

basis). For medication refills, please use the portal messaging service to communicate

with your child's provider to request a refill or call our office during normal business

hours to request the refill. Prescription renewals are handled Monday-Friday, 9 am- 4 pm.

Please allow 3-5 days to accommodate your request.

If your child's prescription is running low, please do not wait until the weekend or until

the medication has completely run out. If you are planning to travel out of town, please

make sure your child has enough medication for the trip.

Discrimination is Against the Law! Flanders Pediatrics complies with applicable Federal Civil Right Laws and does not discriminate or exclude anyone or treat them differently because of:

• Race
• Ethnicity
• Ancestary
• National Origin
• Religion
• Gender
• Marital Status
• Sexual Orientation
• Gender Identity or Expression
• Age
• Immigration Status
• Disability
• Veteran Status

Acts of discriminations and/or harassment based on any of these factors are completely inconsistent with our philosophy of providing care and will NOT be tolerated at anytime.

All office visits are to be scheduled ahead of time. Please call our office before coming in to schedule an appointment and please arrive on time for your appointment. We try to offer a window of time for patients who are late but when arriving after your appointment time, it will be at the discretion of the office whether or not the appointment will be re-scheduled. If you believe you have an urgent situation please call first to decide if it is best to be handled in the office or the L&M emergency room.

Co-pays are required for service at all times, a $15.00 fee may be assessed to bill co-pays. Payment for service is due at the time of service. We accept cash, personal checks, HSA checks, Visa, and MasterCard. A $35.00 fee is assessed for returned checks. We reserve the right to refuse payment in the form of a check if there are any returned check fees on your account. A $10.00 per month re-billing charge maybe added to all accounts 120 or more days overdue to cover cost of billing. In the event that a payment arrangement needs to be established through our billing department, patients have a maximum of six months for payment in full. Furthermore, if accounts are placed with a collection agency due to lack of payment, we reserve the right to dismiss patients from the practice.

All information will be verified at each visit, including:

• Insurance information
• Billing/Home Address 
• Phone Numbers (Home, cell and emergency contact) 
• Preferred pharmacy, laboratory, and x-ray facilities

It is your resposibility to notify the office of any demographic or insurance changes. We bill your insurance as a courtesy if appropriate and complete information provided.

We understand that many children in our office have parents who are divorced or separated. It is our hope that divorced/separated parents will still communicate and work well together in the best interests of the child(ren). Flanders Pediatrics providers and staff strive to provide the highest quality of medical care to your child(ren). Our focus is on your child's medical, emotional, psychological, and physiological health. We are not party to nor wish to be involved in any legal issues involving divorce, separation, or custody agreements. As the parents or legal guardians of the patient, please read and agree to the following policy so that we may focus on the care and well-being of your child(ren).

• The providers, nurses, medical assistants, and staff will not be put in the middle of domestic issues or disagreements over the phone or in the office.
• Please make decisions regarding appointments, vaccinating and/or any office procedures PRIOR to visiting our practice.
• Only in situations where there is a confirmed, documented court order will one of the parents be denied access to the child’s health records or visits at the office.  Flanders Pediatrics must have a copy of this court order on file in the child’s EHR chart.
• If there is NOT a court order on file with our office, either parent or legal guardian can write and sign a “Consent to Treat” that authorize individuals like grandparent and nannies to bring your child to the practice, be present during the visit, and consent to any treatment during that visit.  Either parent or legal guardian can schedule an appointment for their child, be present for the visit and/or obtain a copy of the visit summary.
• It is both parents’ responsibility to communicate with each other about the patients care, office visit dates and any other pertinent information relevant to the child.  It is not the responsibility of the provider to communicate visit information to each custodial parent separately.  Our providers will not call the non-attending parent following visits.
• Additionally, we will not call the other parent for consent regarding appointments scheduled, restrict either parent’s involvement in the patient’s care unless authorized by law or tolerate appointment scheduling/cancelling patterns of behavior between parents.
• If we feel that any of the above-mentioned items are not being followed, become an issue for our staff, or serve as an impediment to properly caring for your child(ren), we reserve the right to discharge the family from the practice.
• We will not hesitate to call the authorities if anyone in our office (parents, caregivers, patients, etc.) threatens harm to another person.
• This policy will be reviewed with and signed by caregivers upon joining our Flanders Pediatrics family.

Due to the regulations of many insurance plans, it is your responsibility to designate one of the providers at Flanders Pediatrics be listed on your insurance as the PCP. If our practice or a provider is not designated PCP prior to your visit, you may be required to pay in full for services rendered. Furthermore, you must make certain that we are listed as an in-network provider for your individual plan as we are not responsible for non-covered or out-of-network services.

Flanders Pediatrics HIPAA Policy

As a courtesy to you, we will accept “assignment of benefits” and will bill your insurance carrier, assuming proper paperwork is provided to us. Every effort will be made to closely estimate your co-payments, which are due at the time of service, but the ultimate responsibility for the unpaid balance rests with the parent/guardian. It will be your responsibility to call your insurance company and check on the status of the claim. Any non-covered charges by your insurance carrier will require payment in full at the time services are provided or upon notice of insurance claim denial. We suggest that you review the terms of your policy in full so that you understand what services are covered. If you have any questions regarding your policy, please contact your insurance company, as we cannot be responsible for knowing specifics of each insurance plan. Financial policies and extended payments may be discussed with our billing staff or Office Manager. The billing policy can only be overridden with manager’s approval. If you have questions regarding your bill please contact the office manager.

Our office requires at least 10 business days to process and fulfill any records release requests. Records will be released to any physician upon your written request and authorization as a courtesy. There is a minimum $5.00 charge plus an additionational $0.65/page for personal records release request.

Many insurance companies require a referral from your primary care provider before seeing a specialist.

• Referrals to other physicians or diagnostic facilities can take up to 72 hours for our office to process.
• Referrals will not be done after hours or on weekends.
• You are required to notify us at leat 72 hours in advance of an appointment requiring a referral. Failure to do so may result in your referral being denied by the insurance and therefore making you financially responsible for all charges.
• Please call your insurance company to ensure the referral is in-network.
• Parents and guardians are responsible for ensuring coverage and arranage the appointment for their child.

Payment is expected at the time of service.

Beginning at age 18, a patient can make his or her own decisions regarding medical care and treatment including immunizations.  Prior to the 18th birthday, teenagers should generally be accompanied to the office by a parent or guardian who can provide consent for treatment.  If the teenager wishes or agrees, the parent or guardian may be asked to wait in the waiting room while the teenager is speaking with the provider in private or being examined. Anything discussed with the provider in private shall remain that way unless the provider is required to discuss information with others in order to keep the teenager safe (for example- the teenager is actively suicidal and needs immediate care to remain safe).  

There are a few exceptions where a teenager under 18 years of age can consent for all of their own treatment.  These include a teenager who is 15 years of age or older who lives apart from his or her parents and is managing his or her own financial affairs, or a teenager who is married. A teenager who is pregnant can consent for her own prenatal care and for the care of her child once it is born.

Also, a physician may legally provide birth control services, confidential diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and confidential treatment for drug addiction or abuse at the request of a teenage patient without the consent of the parent.

Ref: COPIC, “Minors and Risk,” July 2012

We strive to return calls is a timely manner. We ask that you:

• Please reserve after hours calls for urgent matters only that can be addressed by either the on-call provider or the Night-Nurse Call Center.
• Prescription refills and referrals are NOT considerd emergencies and will not be completed after hours.
• Save routine questions or concerns for regular office hours.
• Ensure when leaving a message during office hours that you are available at the provided phone number since the providers and/or nurses return calls periodically throughout the day.

It is the Policy of Flanders Pediatrics to require all patients to be vaccinated with state mandated vaccines. We reserve the right to dismiss any patient that choses not to vaccinate to protect the overall well-being of our patients and staff.  

• We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious illness and to save lives.

• We firmly believe in the safety of our vaccines.

• We firmly believe that all children and young adults should receive all of the recommended vaccines according to the schedule published by the American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) and the State of Connecticut.

• We firmly believe, based on all available literature, evidence, and current studies, that vaccines do not cause autism or other developmental disabilities.

• We firmly believe that thimerosal, a preservative that has been in vaccines for decades and remains in some vaccines, does not cause autism or other developmental disabilities. Our practice uses individual vaccines that don't have thimerosal as a preservative.

• We firmly believe that vaccinating children and young adults may be the single most important health promoting intervention we perform as health care providers, and that you can support as parents/caregivers.

The recommended vaccines and the schedule of administration are the results of years and years of scientific study and data-gathering on millions of children by thousands of our brightest scientists and physicians.

The vaccine campaign is truly a victim of its own success. It is precisely because vaccines are so effective at preventing illness that we are even discussing whether or not they should be given. Because of vaccines, many of you have never seen a child with polio, tetanus, whooping cough, bacterial meningitis, or even chickenpox, or known a friend or family member whose child died of one of these diseases. Such success can make us complacent or even lazy about vaccinating. But such an attitude, if it becomes widespread, can only lead to tragic results.

Over the past several years, many people in Europe and the USA have chosen not to vaccinate their children with the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine after publication of an unfounded suspicion (later retracted) that the vaccine caused autism. As a result of under-immunization, there have been small outbreaks of measles and several deaths from complications of measles in Europe over the past several years. The United States experienced a record number of measles cases during 2025, with 2,100 cases resulting in the death of two unvaccinated children and one adult. This is the greatest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000. Furthermore, new measles cases are being reported in New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan, and even here in Connecticut. 

We firmly believe that by not vaccinating your child, you are taking selfish advantage of thousands of others who do vaccinate their children, which decreases the likelihood that a child will contract one of these diseases. We feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable. Even delaying or “breaking up the vaccines” to give one or two at a time over additional visits goes against expert recommendations, is not supported by any scientific data, can lead to unnecessary delays and errors, and can put your child, other children, and adults at risk for serious illness (or even death). It is therefore against our medical advice as professionals at Flanders Pediatrics.

As medical professionals, we feel strongly that vaccinating children on schedule with currently available vaccines is absolutely the right thing to do for all children and young adults. We are making you aware of this not to scare you or coerce you, but to emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We understand parents’ concerns regarding vaccines and are willing to discuss them and answer questions about vaccines at any well child visit.

Our office is not set up for walk-in appointments. Patients who walk in with a non- emergency condition will either be fit into the existing schedule as best as possible or set up an appointment to be seen at a later day depending on the schedule availabilities.