Cancellations
We request that you please call the office 24 hours in advance to cancel and/or reschedule appointments. If your reason for cancelling occurs in a shorter time period, please call at least 1 hour in advance.  Any cancellation after that time will be considered a "no-show" for the appointment.
 
Late Policy
Avalon Park Internal Medicine and Dr. Burns value you as a patient and recognize the difficulties you face in trying to cordinate all the demands made upon your time.  We know that unavoidable emergencies sometimes occur at the last  minute.  However, when a patient misses their scheduled appointment time without notifying us in advance, the time becomes completely wasted when it could have been used to schedule another patient who was in need of care. When an emergency does occur, if you will call us as soon as possible and let us know what happened, we will work with you to reschedule and will then be able to use that time for another patient in need.

To help us implement this policy fairly, the following policy will be observed in regard to patients who either arrive more than 15 minutes late for their appointment or completely miss their appointment without notifying the office of cancellation:

Patient's who miss their appointment completely, without calling at least 1 hour in advance to cancel, will receive a letter advising them of the missed appointment.  If a second appointment is missed, the letter will advise that another "no-show" may result in discharge from the practice.  A third "no-show" can result in a termination letter.  Appointments cancelled less than one hour in advance will be counted as a no-show.

Patients who arrive more than 15 minutes late for their appointment will be rescheduled or, if time permits, will be asked to wait until the end of the session to be seen.

We hope that everyone understands our reasons for enforcing this policy and appreciate your understand and support.

Prescriptions
Calls for prescriptions or renewals received in this office after 4 PM will addressed the following day. Please try to call the office at least 48 hours in advance for all medications and/or refills. Calls received after 4 PM on Friday will be returned on the following Monday. When requesting a prescription or refill, please have the name of the medication, the dosage and the strength available as well as the name and phone number of your pharmacy.

Emergencies and On Call
If you have an emergency, such as chest pain, severe shortness of breath, severe headache, or bleeding, call 911 or proceed directly to the nearest hospital emergency room.  If you are calling during non-business hours our phone system will connect you with our answering service.  If you have a non-life threatening, but urgent concern, please give the answering service your name, your concern, and a number you can be reached at.  The answering service will page Dr. Burns.   If the doctor does not answer your call within 30 minutes, please recall the office.  Please keep in mind that Dr. Burns takes her own call 24/7.  If your concern is not urgent, we ask that you please wait until the next business day and give the office a call during regular hours.

Records Releases
Please complete the Authorization For Use And/Or Disclosure of Protected Health Information (Medical Records)form located on the New Patient Information page of this website to obtain your medical records from your previous family physician and any specialists you may be consulting. Our Practice Privacy Policy is available at the office for your review.