Appointments

If an emergency should arise, please call 911.

Emergencies are considered to be those conditions that are life-threatening: loss of consciousness, severe bleeding, seizure, etc. In the case of minor emergencies (lacerations, cuts, mild fractures, sprains), please call our office first for instructions.

Poison Control: (800) 222-1222

Suicide Prevention Hotline: (800) 273-8255

When you make your appointment, be sure to let our receptionist know the nature of your visit (sports physical, ear pain, a rash, second opinion, etc.) Also, please let us know at the time you make your appointment if you have several questions or concerns, or if you want more than one child checked. Reason: We want to schedule enough time for your concerns. If we try to squeeze multiple issues (or children) into a single “quick visit” time slot, it either results in cutting you off (not fair to you), or making our other patients wait while we finish (not fair to them).

Our “On-Time” and “Late” Policy

We understand that even the most organized mom or dad can run late sometimes. If that’s the case, call us before your appointment time. We can reschedule your appointment for a time that’s better for you. If you are late for an appointment but don’t call us, we will probably give your time away to another patient.

• Patients arriving early and on-time will be seen in the order they were scheduled.
• Sick patients arriving up to 30 minutes late will be seen, but will have to wait while we see patients who were on time.
• “Well” patients (physicals, rechecks, etc.) will be asked to reschedule.
• Any patient arriving more than 30 minutes late, or unannounced walk-ins, may be asked to reschedule.

Our Termination Policy

We reserve the right to terminate the physician-patient relationship for:

• Frequent no-shows or last-minute or “retroactive” cancellations. People who continually fail to keep appointments prevent us from being able to offer those appointment slots to others.
• Inappropriate behavior or language to staff or other patients.
• Falsifying insurance or health information.
• Repeated abuse of our office policies.
• Past due accounts. When the patient’s family does not make a good faith effort to meet a payment schedule.

In addition to any vaccines currently due, we deliver a variety of services and screenings at each checkup. We recommend calling at least 2 weeks in advance to schedule well exams for infants and toddlers and at least 3 months in advance for school age children.

We know that when your child is sick, you worry about his or her health. Sometimes you want to have them seen right away to make sure it’s not serious. So you will not have to go to the ER, we offer same day sick appointments for children.

Our Policy

Established patients of our practice who call ahead for a “sick visit” appointment by 3:00 PM on weekdays will be offered an appointment time before we close for the day.

Please Note:  We will try our best to accommodate you, but we can’t guarantee that the time will be your first choice. We must offer appointment slots on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure your babysitter knows to call you before 3:00 pm if your child gets sick.

Your appointment may be scheduled with any of our providers. If you have a preference, we will certainly try to accommodate it. However, if one physician is at the hospital, completely booked, etc., we will schedule your appointment with another.

If you are more than 30 minutes late for your appointment, we cannot guarantee that you will be seen.

You must call ahead. “Drop-ins” aren’t fair to families who have called.

If we are very busy, we reserve the right to determine what constitutes an urgent sick visit. Visits that are not considered urgent, such as well-baby checks, bedwetting, etc., may be asked to schedule another day so we can work in truly ill children.

Patients who walk in with a non-emergency condition will be fit into the existing schedule as best as possible, or they will be asked to return later in the day when the schedule allows.

We want to keep our line open at night for urgent calls. Please limit night time and Sunday calls to emergencies, urgent problems that can’t wait, or if you are truly worried about something.

Tips on calling us after hours:

• Call our main number at (423) 594-8700. You will be connected to our answering service where you will be asked to leave a message and your call back number. Please, listen closely to the prompts as calls left on the non-urgent line are not returned until the next business day.
• Please be patient waiting for a call back. Sometimes we get several pages at once.
• If possible, please call from a land line, rather than a cell phone. It is difficult to keep a good connection on a cell phone.
• Even if your regular doctor isn’t the one on call, the on-call doctor can still help you. So all our doctors can have some evenings off, vacations, etc., we rotate night telephone call between Dr. Stephanie Mueller and our on-call registered nurse. Some calls may be returned by our on-call registered nurses. The nurses have immediate access to the on-call physician, if needed.