Youth Clinic Information Page

Fort Collins Youth Clinic

www.youthclinic.com

YouthClinic

Welcome!

We are pleased that you have chosen the Fort Collins Youth Clinic to care for your child's health-care needs. Pediatricians spend many years in training to treat only children. They recognize that children's needs are unique and that they are not just "little adults." Our pediatricians, physician assistants, nurses, and other staff consider themselves a team designed to help you have healthy children and to make parenting easier. We are always striving to improve our services and welcome your suggestions and criticisms.

History

The Fort Collins Youth Clinic was founded in 1964 by Dr. Donald Beard. The Clinic has grown to a staff of twelve pediatricians, six physician assistants, a pediatric psychologist and a speech pathologist.

The Youth Clinics' pediatricians specialize in the treatment of children and adolescents. They are committed to a child's development from infancy through adolescence. Pediatrics is the only medical specialty solely devoted to taking care of sick infants and children.

Appointments

All visits require a scheduled appointment. Please call us two to four weeks ahead of time to schedule your child's physical examinations. During the months of July and August, we are especially busy due to school, camp, and athletic physical examinations. We prefer that you schedule those physicals on or near the child's birthday rather than waiting until the rush before school.

When your child is ill call us early in the day, when possible, so that we may work you in easily. If you have an emergency call us immediately. Our office is equipped to handle most situations, and we will always be able to see your child. Please be aware that most managed-care insurance companies frown on unnecessary emergency room visits and will refuse to pay for those services unless the emergency is very serious or even life-threatening.

To help us be properly prepared for your visit, please be very specific about your needs when making your appointments. Also, inform the appointment desk of the number of children you intend to bring so that we schedule adequate time for your visit. To provide quality health care, we must take ample time with each patient. We do not over-schedule, but surgeries, emergencies, and deliveries may cause your appointment to be delayed. If this happens, you will be notified and given the option to reschedule or see another of our physicians or a physician extender. We try hard to anticipate scheduling requirements, but because the health care profession is so unpredictable, we sometimes need to change appointments.

Because of insurance requirements, it is absolutely necessary that we have your current insurance information. Please arrive ten to fifteen minutes before your appointment time to allow us time to check your current address, telephone number, and insurance information and record any changes.

If you are late, and we have not heard from you, we may have to ask you to reschedule your appointment. If you are unable to keep an appointment, kindly give us twenty-four hours notice. If you cancel within one hour of the scheduled appointment time, or miss the appointment, you will be charged one-fourth of the scheduled exam fee.

Payment Policies, Fee and Diagnosis Sheets, and Insurance

Payment Policies
We do require payment at the time of service. You may pay with a check, credit card (MasterCard or VISA) or cash. Co-payment for our contracted insurances is also required at time of service. If you need to make a special arrangement, please call the billing office before you arrive for your appointment.

Fee and Diagnosis Sheets
Please save the copies of your fee sheets for income tax records and insurance purposes. It is the only copy that we are able to provide.

Insurance
The Fort Collins Youth Clinic providers are part of several insurance company networks, and we bill those companies directly. You are required to pay any co-pays at the time of the service as part of those contracts. Please tell the staff at the time of check-in if you are participating in one of those plans. It is your responsibility to provide us with all group, policy, and individual numbers along with signatures so we can bill your insurance company correctly. Please always bring your insurance card with you to ensure that you receive the benefits you are entitled to under your health plan.

Telephone Calls

Appointment Number	482-2515
Main Telephone Number	267-9510
Billing and Insurance Information	221-3489

As an extension of our total care, we are committed to be available to our patients by phone 24-hours a day. There is no charge for physician phone calls during regular hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday) unless the call is a lengthy consultation. However, if the doctor is called after hours, there is a minimum $10.00 charge and a $15.00 charge if a prescription has to be called into a pharmacy. Even though the patient care is done over the telephone, the physician takes responsibility for care at that time, and the call and the recommendations made to you have to be documented in your child's chart.

Once you have established your child or children with the Youth Clinic, we also offer the services of a "telephone nurse" from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. There is no charge for this service, and many times a call to a trained medical professional can eliminate the need for an office visit or ease a parent's concern over a specific problem.