Our office handles a huge volume of phone calls each day. Our staff answers questions about appointments and procedures for new and established patients, obtains new patient information and updates old information. They make and receive calls to confirm, cancel, and reschedule appointments. They forward messages to our office manager, to our billing/insurance specialist, and to our assistant staff regarding patient inquiries, pharmacy prescription renewals, and lab results. In addition, our doctors receive calls from patients, family members, pathologists, and physician colleagues throughout the day.
Clearly, the doctors cannot take each phone call during patient office hours. We have an excellent voice-mail system in place to handle messages. Our doctors and staff make every effort to return calls by the end of the office session. We request that patients leave accurate contact information (e.g. time, phone number) so they are available for return phone calls during or at the end of office hours. If the problem is urgent or requires prompt attention, the patient should communicate that to the staff member or office manager directly, so the doctors can be informed. We make every effort to accommodate urgent problems as promptly as possible.