Office Policies
Walnut Creek Dermatology will make every effort to see you at your appointment time.
Occasionally, things happen, and we will run behind. I sincerely apologize as I cannot stand
being late! This is not due to over scheduling but especially with new patients, things just
happen and problems are more complicated than anticipated. Likewise, things happen on your
end as well and we try to understand. We have a 15-minute grace period for appointments. If
you are later than 15 minutes, we will try to fit you in the schedule that day. If that is not
possible, you will be scheduled at another time. Parents, please do not schedule your children
for appointments after school that you know will be close to impossible to make. The end of the
day is insane enough and we will likely not be able to see you.
Your Appointment
When you schedule your appointment, we ask you the reason for your visit. Please understand that your appointment time is set at the time of scheduling for the specific reason you stated. We can talk briefly about other topics at this appointment, but bringing a list of 20 things you’d like to discuss and touching upon each of them is unreasonable. We will ask you to schedule an additional appointment for other issues so that we have adequate time to address each of your concerns. We are healthcare providers and our goal is to take care of you.
The patient/physician relationship
Our goal at Walnut Creek Dermatology is to take care of patients with knowledge, kindness, patience and expert care. I have designed my practice and hired people who believe wholeheartedly in my message. We are keeping our practice small and personal, offering a level of care we believe is disappearing in medicine. Please understand, we are always doing our best. If you feel that we have made a mistake, come to us about it. We are human beings and it is going to happen. We are open to feedback, always. However, do understand if you are yelling at our staff, rude or otherwise out of line, we will offer you a referral to another practice. Having a respectful dialogue is always our priority.
We value your time as well as our own. All patients will be expected to give a credit card to be filed in our secure network at the time of booking an appointment. In the event that you no show to your appointment or cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, your credit card will be charged: Late Cancelation $75. No show appointment $100. Late Cancel/No show surgical appointments will incur a fee of $200. Hair salons, my kids’ pediatrician and most businesses have a policy like this in place.
We do our best to ensure your referral is at our office prior to your appointment. Ultimately, this is your responsibility. Please call the office 48 hours prior to your appointment to ensure it is in our office.
Most medications have refills. We try to make getting medication easy for you! Please look at the bottle prior to emailing our office for refills and then call the pharmacy. Refill requests will be handled 48 hours after requested. Please make these requests in writing and not by phone call. We cannot write prescriptions out of state, nor can we mail prescriptions- that is California State law. If we have not seen you in a year, you will need an appointment for a refill of a topical medication. If you are on an oral medication, you will need to be seen every 6 months.
Again, we try our hardest to get you the medication that we believe is in your best interest and was prescribed. Insurance plans have their own set of rules, which we MUST abide by. If a prior authorization is needed, please understand we are a small office and are working hard for you. Most of the time, they can take 1-2 weeks. We will call you when we receive approval from your plan. Promise.