We are a pro-vaccine practice. We expect parents to immunize their children according to the schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). We do not accept patients in our practice who refuse to immunize their children or follow the AAP schedule.

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If you have concerns or questions about vaccines in general or a specific vaccine our physicians are happy to discuss it with you during your child's well visit.

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Review the recommended AAP immunization schedule here

We encourage well child visits to be scheduled in advance, especially for school or sports physicals. We make every attempt to have your child seen same or next day for sick visits.

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Walk-in Appointments

We do not allow walk-in appointments.  Please call the office and make an appointment before coming to the office or we may not be able to see your child.

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Late/No-Shows

If you will not be able to keep an appointment, please reschedule with us as soon as possible so that we can see another patient in that time slot.   If you are more than 15 minutes late for an appointment, we may have to reschedule your visit.  If you miss an appointment without canceling, we may charge you a missed appointment fee.

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What To Bring

You must bring a valid insurance card, your co-payment and/or deductible payment (if applicable) to each appointment.  Also, please try to bring your child's immunization record to any well check appointment.  If you have new insurance and have not yet received your insurance card, you will need the following information: insurance company name; claim address; co-payment amount; and policy holder name, policy number, group number, and suffix.

We are committed to proving care for your child 24/7. We have several options for reaching us:

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• After office hours (evenings and weekends), you may call our same office number. You will be transferred to an answering service that will send a message to a pediatric triage nurse. You will typically get a phone call within a few minutes.  Please note, these questions should be limited to URGENT matters that cannot wait until normal business hours, or a fee may be charged for non-emergent calls. 

• Please do not contact the triage service for prescription refills or appointment requests. Please call us during business hours or send your request through the patient portal.

• You may send a message through our portal messaging system at any time of day. However, we may not respond to your message until normal office hours. Because your message may not responded to timely, please do not delay receiving medical treatment through emergency or urgent care. 

• During office hours you may call our office and leave a message. One of our nurses or physicians will call you back as soon as possible, but no later than the end of the business day.

• Prescription refills should be requested through your pharmacy. For prescription refills on controlled substance medications, please call during business hours, or you may send your request through the portal, but you must allow at least 48 hours for your provider to respond.
   

It is always a good idea to double-check with your particular insurance plan to ensure that the doctors are approved providers before you are seen at the office. Although we are happy to file insurance claims on your behalf each time you visit our office, please understand that you are ultimately responsible for the payment of all charges incurred with the office regardless of your insurance coverage or reimbursement.

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Co-payments, Co-Insurance and Deductibles

Your plan may require you to pay a co-payment, a percent of co-insurance and/or meet a yearly deductible. We expect these payments at the time of service. We accept cash, checks, VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Card. Co-payments are a contractual obligation between you, your health plan, and our practice; if the co-payment obligation is not met, your insurance plan has the right to deny the charges. This may leave you responsible for the services rendered during your visit.  After insurance has settled and it is determined there is a balance owed on the account, payment is expected upon receipt of the first statement from Catalina Pediatrics. You may send your payment through the mail, call our office to make a payment over the phone, or for the most convenient method, please pay securely through the patient portal.. Any delinquent balances may result in late charges, finance charges and/or collection fees. To avoid any delays, if you have questions about your bill or balance, please call our office and a billing representative would be happy to assist you.

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Guarantor

You will be required to provide us with the guarantor on your child's account. The guarantor is the individual who assumes financial responsibility for all payments to the practice. The guarantor is usually the individual with whom the child lives (in the case of separated or divorced parents), or the policyholder on the insurance coverage.