Welcome to the
Signature Medical Associates practice
and thank you for entrusting us with your care. We
hope that you'll take a moment to read over this patient
guide. This guide is designed to give you a brief
overview of Signature Medical Associates and to help
you use our services more conveniently. Should you
have any specific questions about your care or about
Signature Medical Associates, please feel free to contact us at 847/214-5740.
Prior to your first visit with us, please take a moment and download the Medical History form. Fill it out, and bring with you for your appointment. This saves you the trouble of doing it then, and saves you time
you'd be spending in the waiting room.
Our Mission
We are committed to providing quality health care
and accessibility to our community. We plan to
accomplish the objective through the cooperation
of patients, medical staff members and ancillary
personnel. The focus will be on the patient, guiding
you toward better health. We recognize the need
for patients and their families to help themselves by
becoming active participants in partnership with
their physician. In today's
ever-changing health
care environment, the art of medicine, education
and personal commitment are paramount to attain
the goal of healthy body and mind.
Office Hours
Our offices are open Monday through Saturday with
some evening hours available. In the event that you
require immediate care, there is emergency coverage
available to you simply by calling your primary care
physician.
It is our goal for you to see your own
physician at every visit.
Children
If your child (under the age of 18) comes to our office not
accompanied by a parent, a parental note authorizing
treatment must be provided. In an emergency we will
call you for authorization.
Immunizations
Immunizations will be available and partial payment is
expected at the time of service. If they are not covered
by your insurance full payment is expected at time of
service. Additional resources for immunizations are the Kane
County Health Department (630.208.3801) and the
McHenry
County Health Department (815.334.4510).
Test Results
It often takes more than a week to get certain test
results back. Please check with your individual physician
as to what his or her policy is
regarding notification
of laboratory and other test results.
Hospitalizations
ADULTS - If you become hospitalized, your primary care physician may not see you while you are in the hospital. One of our colleagues, a hospital medicine specialist affiliated with IPC-The Hospitalist Company, will be managing your care and
communicating with your primary care physician. The hospitalist will guide you as to when you should follow-up with your primary care physician after discharge.
CHILDREN - If your child becomes hospitalized
his or her own physician will guide the medical
care. If your child's physician is not available one
of the other Signature Medical Associates
physicians will manage his/her care and
communicate back to the patient's regular physician.
All newborns are seen each morning by the designated
on-call physician in the group.
Insurance information
Please familiarize yourself with your insurance
plans coverage and benefits. Refer to your insurance
information booklet provided by your Employer
or your Human resource department at work.
These booklets will give you valuable information about
prescriptions, eye care services, mental healthcare
benefits, emergency care, specialist referrals and laboratory
testing. We encourage you to call the toll free
number on your insurance card for any insurance questions you may have.
Reaching Us For Emergencies
If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 911.
In the event that you require immediate care, there
is emergency coverage available to you by
calling your primary care physician's office. The
answering service will page the covering physician. Be
prepared to give the name and age of the patient, your
physician's name, your telephone number where you
can be reached and a brief description of the problem.
A physician will call you back within 15 minutes.
Preventative Examinations
Signature Medical Associates feel that it is important
for you to understand the preventative medical
examination. A preventative medical examination
is a visit to discuss important issues directed toward
preventing illness and maintaining good health.
Well-child visits, school and sports physicals and
complete physical examinations are all preventative
visits. These visits are not to care for illnesses or
new medical complaints. If a patient has medical
concerns, it may be difficult for the physician to
focus on preventative issues and in this case the
billing for the office visit may change.
As a patient it is your responsibility to be aware of
whether your health insurance plan covers preventive medical visits.
Patients without insurance coverage for
preventative medical visits will be seen with
the understanding that they are responsible for payment.
Please take this opportunity to familiarize yourself
with the coverage provided by your insurance plan.
You may contact your physician's office with
inquiries about preventative medical visits. If you
have questions about the bill you received,
please call 847.214.9610.
Cancellation Policy
As a courtesy to other patients, please give at least 24
hours notice should you have to cancel your appointment.
If 24 hours notice is not possible, please call us
as soon as you know that a cancellation is necessary.
If
you anticipate being more than 15 minutes late for your
appointment please call.
Referrals
If you have an insurance plan that requires a written
referral, please allow five business days for its completion.
Generally, the referral can only be authorized by your primary
care physician. If the specialist
is recommending a procedure, x-ray, laboratory
work or a specific treatment plan, authorization
must be obtained through your primary care physician.
Please remind the specialist to send your
primary care physician all information and
recommendations regarding your visit and or
test results.
Prescription Refills
If you need a prescription refill we encourage you to ask your
Pharmacy to fax your refill requests to our office. You can call your
physician's office or have your pharmacy us call during normal
business hours 8:30AM - 5PM, Monday through Friday.
Please provide:
• The name of the medication and dosage
• Patient name
• A pharmacy name and phone number
You may need to see your physician before your prescription can be
refilled. Please allow at least 48 hours
for a refill to be authorized and several weeks if you
have your prescription refilled by mail. Please do not
allow your prescriptions to run out if it is a medication
you take routinely.
It is our policy not to prescribe any antibiotics or to refill
pain medications outside of regular office hours.
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