Changes at Dahl Memorial Clinic

Dahl Memorial Clinic recently announced that there is a new face at the registration desk. Diane Fraser is retiring and Hunter Costin is taking over for her. Patients may recognize Costin from the business office downstairs as she has been working there for the past year.

Not only is there a new face greeting patients when they arrive for an appointment, the clinic is also implementing new strategies to improve the insurance billing process and to accommodate as many patients as possible in a day. Along with these clinic changes, employees are asking patients to help out as well.

Every time a patient arrives, Costin will ask for their health insurance card(s) and patient demographics (address, phone number, etc.). The clinic will ask for these every time because they want to be in the habit of asking. In other words, if they stop asking once, it is likely they will forget in the future. Employees in the clinic want to ensure that they have updated insurance information because it makes things easier for Dayle Lovec in the billing office. When insurance information is incorrect, the billing office may bill the wrong company and payment will be denied. Then, the patient will either get a statement for the entire amount, or the billing office will have to re-submit to the correct insurance company if they have that information.

When patients call to schedule an appointment, Costin will ask what the reason for the visit is. This is so that she can estimate the length of the appointment for scheduling purposes. Costin will not be asking for specific details. For example, when a patient calls about a cold, it may be scheduled for a fifteen minute appointment. When that patient then tells the physician assistant (PA) that they have three other ailments once in the clinic, this puts all other appointments behind. If this happens in the future, patients may be asked to schedule an additional appointment on another day.

The clinic is also asking patients to arrive for scheduled appointments fifteen minutes early. This allows time for registration and for the nurse to take vital signs and information on the history of the illness. Patients will then be ready to see the healthcare provider by their scheduled time.

Anyone who is going to be late for their appointment is asked to please call the clinic and inform Costin. Those who show up late without calling may be asked to reschedule, because when one patient is late, it puts the rest of the scheduled patients behind.

Patients scheduled for a pre-operative physical, a DOT exam or who have labs/x-rays prior to their appointment should come in thirty minutes prior to their scheduled appointment time. This is so that paperwork, labs/x-rays and information gathered by the nurse can be completed by the time of the appointment.

"I realize that there are times when you are waiting on the nurse or the healthcare provider, and that we apologize for," says Raquel S. Williams RN, Dahl Memorial Clinic Manager.

"However, there are unforeseen circumstances that we cannot schedule for in the clinic. When Dale or Carla is scheduled to see patients in the clinic, that PA is also responsible to see patients in the emergency room, to follow up with patients in the hospital, and in the nursing home. Because of emergent issues in other areas of the hospital, there are times that clinic patients have to wait longer or may be asked to reschedule."

Patients who have an appointment scheduled but are not able to make it or feel better are asked to call and let Costin know that they want to cancel that appointment. If canceled, the clinic can add a different patient in that time slot for an appointment. When patients do not call to cancel, the clinic may have to turn another patient away.

"We understand that parents often have more than one sick kiddo," said Willliams.

"When you call for an appointment we will do all we can to get appointments for all sick ones to be seen at consecutive appointments. However, please do not bring an additional person to your appointment and expect that person to be seen as well at that time. If you have another sick family member, call the clinic as soon as possible and ask Hunter if that person can get an appointment scheduled around the same time as you, or schedule him/her for another time. If you walk in to your appointment with another sick person, we will make all attempts to get that person seen in the clinic as soon as possible. That may not be for a couple hours, or the next day. It is unfair to those patients who have scheduled their appointments, to make them wait because someone else did not call to schedule. This is not to say we do not accept walk-in patients, but the walk-in patients will wait until there is a break in scheduled patients to get in to be seen.

When you need a medication refilled, please call your pharmacy for a refill and call at least 72 hours in advance. If you have no more refills, the pharmacy will contact the clinic to request a new prescription. However, you need to give the clinic personnel at least 72 hours to renew prescriptions. This is because when we receive a new prescription refill, we research when was the last time the patient was seen in the clinic and when did they last have labs done. This process is done between scheduled patients, so may take a little while to get done. Also, as a reminder, if you take prescription medications your healthcare provider requests you have labs and a checkup done at the very least annually."

Lastly, to set up an appointment for the same day as the call to schedule, it is essential to call as early as possible. There are many days when the clinic schedule is full by 9 a.m., and employees have to start scheduling patients on the next day or later in the week. Williams says it is better to schedule an appointment, then to cancel later if needed, but remember to call and cancel.

"Dahl Memorial Clinic appreciates our patients and wants to do what is best for all," she says.

Call Williams at 775-8738 or stop by the clinic for questions.