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Here you can find answers to commonly asked questions.
| Q. |
When are the phones answered? |
| A. |
We answer our phones Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. except for holidays. We have office hours beyond 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but we are only seeing scheduled patients at that time. We also have office hours on most Saturdays. We will take calls for same day sick appointments on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. or until our appointments are filled for that day. You can always reach the after hours on-call physician by dialing our main number and following the instructions or you can call 728-1600 (Jefferson Memorial Hospital) and ask the operator to page the physician on-call for Harpers Ferry Family Medicine. |
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| Q. |
What if I want to speak with someone instead of leaving a message? |
| A. |
Our phone options are set up to accommodate about 80% of the calls that we receive each day. Some of these options require that you leave a message for someone to return your call. This is primarily for lab results, billing questions, referrals, or medical records. These areas normally require that we obtain your chart or look up the information you are requesting before we are able to give you an answer. That is why we ask that you leave a message and a phone number where we can call you back. If you want to schedule an appointment you will always be able to speak to the next available staff member by pressing option 1. Our hope is that we will be able to service your requests much more efficiently with this new system. For those other 20% of calls that do not fall under one of the phone options, press zero. Someone will be able to take a message or transfer your call to the appropriate person. |
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| Q. |
When is the best time to call for an appointment? |
| A. |
You can call anytime Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. For same day sick appointments we recommend that you call early in the morning between 8 - 10 a.m., although you can call anytime for this service. For future appointments such as re-checks or physicals, it is best to call after 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. You can press option 1 for assistance with either. |
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| Q. |
What if I need a prescription refilled? |
| A. |
If you are getting low on your medication you will need to contact your pharmacy and have them fax us the request. This helps speed up the process and makes sure that your prescription is filled at the correct pharmacy. This is a new policy to assist in servicing the needs of our patients. Please contact your pharmacist before you get too low on your medications. Chronic conditions require regular appointments for the doctor to monitor and assess your condition. Refill requests should be made at that time. |
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| Q. |
What if I am changing my pharmacy and I need a new prescription? |
| A. |
If you decide to change to a different pharmacy you will need a new prescription. Please call our office, press 4 and leave the requested information. It may take 24 to 48 business hours for us to complete your request. |
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| Q. |
What if I have not received notice on my Lab/Test results? |
| A. |
Lab/Test studies are ordered by the physician to assist them with your care. If you would like copies of your results, please let the physician know during your visit or when the tests are ordered, otherwise your results will be discussed at your next visit. Depending on the test ordered, it could be up to seven days before we receive the results back from the lab. Prior to sending you the results the physician must review and sign off on them. If you have asked your physician for copies of the results and have not received notice within about 14 business days (giving us time to process and the post office time to deliver) you can contact our office and press option 5. Leave us the required information and we will look into the status and let you know when it was sent or resend it to you. This follow up process can take 24 to 48 hours depending on our volume. |
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| Q. |
What if I need shot records or medical records copied? |
| A. |
For copies of your medical file you can press option 7. This goes directly to medical records where someone can assist you or your can leave a message for someone to call you back. You will need a valid up-to-date release of information. |
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| Q. |
What if I have billing questions? |
| A. |
Pressing option 6 will put you in touch with someone in our billing department here in Harpers Ferry. Please have your bill from University Health Associates available for reference. If our billing representative is assisting other callers you can leave a message for a return call or you can contact our corporate billing office at 1-800-541-4009. |
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| Q. |
Do you take my insurance? |
| A. |
We will file a claim with any insurance company, the concern is that some insurance companies will not pay if we are not in their network or our physician is not elected as your primary care provider. If you are not sure if we are in your plan, the best thing to do is contact your insurance company and ask them if we are in your plan. Because we have resident physicians and a nurse practitioner at this facility, you may need to provide the insurance company with one of the following physician names: Dr. Baltierra, Dr. Bentley, Dr. Cannarella, Dr. Cianciaruso, Dr. Cucuzzella, Dr. Moerschel, Dr. Nau, Dr. Tracy, or Dr. Whyte. You can also provide our Tax Identification number 55-0492006 and we are most likely listed under our corporate name of University Health Associates. You can see any of our doctors as long as you have one of these listed as your primary care provider. |
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| Q. |
What if I need a referral to another doctor? |
| A. |
If you need a referral to see another physician, most insurance companies require that you see your primary physician before you can go to the specialist. In this case, you will need to schedule an appointment with one of our physicians and the referral can be generated here. If this is not the case, you can call our office and press option 3. Please leave the requested information so that we can begin to process your request. Referrals are normally ready within 48 to 72 business hours depending on its complexity and requirements of your insurance company. If you want to check the status to see if it is ready or not you can also press option 3 and leave a message. Someone will call you back within 24 business hours. If it is an urgent matter you can press zero and someone will attempt to assist you. |
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