Family Medicine Open Access Scheduling - FAQs

The day before or early in the morning of the day you would like to make an appointment, you can all the office and we will try to schedule you for an appointment. So, if your doctor has office hours on Wednesday mornings, you can call on Tuesday or early Wednesday to get an appointment. If your doctor sees patients on Monday mornings, you can call for an appointment the Friday before.

How do I schedule an appointment for a month or six months from now?

At the end of your doctor’s visit, you will get a card to remind you of when to call for an appointment. Simply call the office at the time when you need to follow-up and you will get an appointment within 24 hours. In this new system, you will not need to make an appointment for a date in the future. Instead, you will make your appointment on the day you need to be seen.

What if I absolutely want a pre-scheduled appointment?

We will still have a limited number of “pre-scheduled” slots made available. We urge you, however, to give open access a try. Open access is designed to increase your satisfaction by making ourselves more immediately available. We hope this system prevents cancellations that occur because of changes in doctors’ and patients’ schedules in the weeks after an appointment is made.

What if I just “walk-in” and ask for an appointment?

A staff member will assist you, and a doctor will see if you have an urgent medical problem. Of course, patients who are already scheduled will be given first priority. We therefore ask that you please call us first to make an appointment for that day.

How can I get through on the telephone?

We are a busy practice and, unfortunately, patients do encounter delays on the telephone system. We hope that open access will allow more time with actual patient care, and less time on the telephone.

My doctor told me that I need a procedure in the office. Do I just call that day for an appointment?

No. Some procedures such as a sigmoidoscopy, colposcopy, minor skin procedures, orthopedic procedures, and obstetric procedures will always need to be pre-scheduled because of the special preparation that you and the doctor need before the procedure is performed.