Responsibilities as a Patient

• We strongly encourage you to use online booking whenever possible.

• Please cancel appointments 24 hours in advance.

• Update your email, phone, and address whenever there is a change.

• Seek health care from our clinic whenever possible, and have every other professional send us your updated records and visits.

• Be aware of uninsured services where fees will be charged.

Visits

• Regular visits are 10 minutes, to address the patient's main concerns.

• Secondary issues will be addressed if time permits, otherwise, a follow-up appointment will be required. A follow-up appointment is not a dismissal of your concerns, but to ensure that an appropriately thorough assessment for the issues are done.

Patient Attachment

• You agree to be randomly assigned to a designated family doctor by the clinic as determined at the first visit.

• Patients are encouraged to seek health care from Maywood Medical whenever possible.

• Patients should identify their family doctor as their primary care provider for all healthcare-related correspondence when multiple providers are involved.

Respect

• We observe a scent-free and smoke-free policy for the health of all those at the clinic.

• Phone calls must be taken outside the clinic.

• Children are generally seen in conjunction with their caregivers up to the age of 13, after which they may choose to be seen alone. We may at times need to speak with a child on his/her own. For children able to provide consent, we can only disclose their medical issues to the caregiver if we have permission from the child.

• There is zero tolerance for abuse, rudeness, or threats of any kind at our clinic and will lead to immediate dismissal from the practice.

Confidentiality

• The patient-physician relationship is important, and that includes your medical records and any information exchanged during your visit. While we use electronic medical records, your information is confidential and stored on secured servers, accessible only by health professionals and staff involved in your care. We will not discuss any matters relating to your medical visits with any other party without your consent, including family members. There are four situations where confidentiality can and must be broken:

  • Court order

  • Imminent threat to yourself, the patient

  • Imminent threat to others

  • Suspicion of child abuse (<19 years of age)

Recording

• No video or audio recording of any kind is permitted during your visit.

Consent to Transfer of Charts

• Your family doctor requires accurate and complete information of existing health records in order to provide quality care. You are providing consent to Maywood Medical to request your medical records from any hospital, clinic, laboratory, or other health care facilities when needed. Please inform your doctor should there be any exceptions.

Booking Appointments

• A typical visit is scheduled for 10 minutes, depending on the type of visit.

• Whenever possible, please describe the reason for your appointment so that the clinic can budget time appropriately.

• Longer appointment times for physical exams or procedures will be booked at your doctor's discretion.

• If you have multiple issues during a visit, your doctor may prioritize them in the allotted time and schedule another appointment in order to be able to thoroughly assess all presenting issues.

• We, again, strongly encourage you to use online booking whenever possible in order to help us alleviate much-needed time by our secretaries for other important duties.

• You may book with your own doctor only for regular visits

• We are able to deal with 1 or 2 problems thoroughly at each office visit. More problems may require another appointment. Please let the doctor know at the beginning of your visit, how many concerns you hope to address and we will do our best to accommodate you as the time allows.

• Please tell us if you need to complete a form. Forms including for school, work, travel, or insurance (including disability) are not covered by MSP and you will be charged a private fee.

Urgent Appointments

• We do our best to fit our patients in for all urgent problems. You will be scheduled with your own doctor whenever possible, but if they are not available, one of the other doctors at the clinic will see you. Urgent appointments are usually squeezed into the schedule and we will only be able to address your urgent concern. This provides the best continuity of care for you and your family.

• What defines an urgent appointment?

  • fever, cough, or cold for more than one week

  • new shortness of breath or chest pain

  • urinary tract infections

  • red eye or blurry vision

  • allergic reaction

  • emergency contraception

• Continuity of care is very important for you to receive the best medical care and advice. Because your doctor knows you well and is familiar with your past and family medical histories, they often have much more insight into the likely causes of a symptom than a walk-in-clinic physician who is just meeting you for the first time. Being seen at a walk-in clinic often leads to the unnecessary duplication of tests.

Late or Missed Appointments

• There are many other patients waiting for appointments. Failure to cancel or reschedule will result in charged fees. After three ‘no shows’ we reserve the right not to schedule another appointment.

• Late Appointments – If you are more than 20 minutes late, you may be asked to re-book your appointment.

No Show Policy and Late Visit Policy

• There are many other patients waiting for appointments. Failure to cancel or reschedule will result in charged fees. After three ‘no shows’ we reserve the right not to schedule another appointment.

• Missed Appointments – There will be a $35 charge if you do not provide at least 24 hours cancellation notice.

Wait Times

• We work hard to run our clinics on time. We know your time is important and we don’t like to keep you waiting. Sometimes we have an emergency we were not expecting which can cause us to run late. We thank you for your patience and understanding when this happens.

• We also know that you appreciate it when we fit you or your children in to see us when you have an urgent issue.

Childhood Immunizations

• The clinic may not always be stocked with routine childhood immunizations. In this situation, you will be advised to contact the closest public health unit for routine immunizations.

Opioids, Sedatives, Stimulants, and Other Controlled Substances

• There is insufficient clinical evidence that long-term, escalating doses of opioid treatment is beneficial for chronic, non-cancer pain. Inappropriate use of opioid medications can lead to more harm than good. For the best quality of care, patients at our clinic will adhere to the Opioid Treatment Agreement before starting opioid therapy.

• The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. has a formal policy statement forbidding the concurrent use of opioid and sedative medications, and your doctor is legally obliged to stop one or more of these medications with a taper.

• Key components of the Opioid Treatment Agreement includes the following:

  • Opioid medications may only be prescribed to patients by a single physician.

  • Patients on opioid medications are subject to PharmaNet checks and random urine drug screens.

  • Your doctor has the right to terminate the prescription of opioid medications if any part of the Agreement is breached.

• Patients may view the Opioid Treatment Agreement upon request.

• No opioid medications are stored in clinic premises.

Uninsured Services and Services Not Covered By MSP

• Certain services are not covered by the provincial Medical Services Plan. The fees for these services are available on our website and you will be notified of any fees before agreeing to treatment.

• Common uninsured services include: sick notes and medical certificates, chart transfers, missed appointments, insurance reports, cosmetic procedures, driver's physicals, cryotherapy for non-plantar warts in adults, flu shots for patients not in high risk groups, medical legal letters and opinions,  travel advice, medical CPP examinations and forms, comprehensive full physical exams

• If an outstanding account has been incurred, payment is expected before your next appointment. Depending upon appointment type, the patient may not be able to schedule future appointments until the balance has been paid.

• See uninsured services and associated fees here

• We follow BCMA’s schedule of fees which are adjusted yearly

Prescribing Policies

• If you have no repeats for a medication, let us know during your office visit and we will renew it. If a detailed medication review is appropriate, then a dedicated follow-up visit will be scheduled. Please bring all your medication vials with you.

• This office follows evidence-based guidelines for all prescriptions, including antibiotics, narcotics and medications for stress-related conditions.

• You consent to our office to search for your past prescription medication history on PharmaNet (provincial prescription medication database) as the need arises.

• Our doctors do not prescribe oxycodone (Percocet), buprenorphine (Suboxone) or methadone.

Ending the Therapeutic Relationship

• Unfortunately, sometimes there is a breakdown in trust between you and your physician. This may occur because of the following reasons:

  • Recurrent “no-show” appointments with our office, other specialist offices, or testing centers without adequate reason or prior notification.

  • Repeat refusal to comply with treatment advice.

  • Any form of abuse, rudeness, or threats by you towards any other patient, staff, physician, or their family.

  • Non-compliance with clinic policies.

• If there is an end to your relationship with your physician, the following policies are in place:

  • You will be formally notified by written statement of the end of the patient-physician relationship.

  • We will provide you up to three weeks of emergency medical services from the date of the letter, but will not include elective care. After this period is over, we will no longer provide medical services to you.

  • We encourage you to seek a new family physician as soon as possible. We can provide you with information on how to seek a new family physician.

  • When you have had the chance to see your new physician, please have him/her contact our office so that we can provide your new physician with a summary of your care while you were a patient at our clinic.

PharmaNet Search

• You consent to having your doctor search your past medication prescription history on PharmaNet (the provincial prescription medication database) as the need arises.

Receiving Email Communication

• You consent to receiving clinic notices by email, including requisitions, screening test reminders, and flu clinics. There is a small and inherent risk to email communication. Emails from our clinic will not contain any medical information beyond the minimum necessary required.

Medical Learners

• Your doctor may provide medical education for medical students or residents in the clinic. Your doctor will ask for consent before you are seen by a learner.

• The medical learner will always review the encounter with your doctor, and the patient may also request to see the doctor afterwards.

• Though we hope you understand the importance of medical education, you may decline to see the medical learner, and this will not affect your care in any way.

Referrals to Specialists

• Before any referral is arranged, patients must see the family doctor for pre-consultation and investigations to facilitate a faster and more effective consultation. If you need to cancel/reschedule an appointment with a specialist, it is your responsibility to contact the office directly. No show fees may be applied at the discretion of the test centers/specialists and we may not be able to refer you for “no show” reasons.

• We will do our best to organize specialist referrals and hospital investigations in a timely manner. However, wait times are often long. Should you not receive a follow-up regarding specialist referrals or hospital investigations within two months (or earlier for urgent matters), please inquire at our clinic about the status of your referral.

Investigations and Results

• Only doctors can interpret lab results and the staff will not comment when asked. Please understand that it can take up to ten (10) days or longer for our office to receive results back from various labs or hospitals, and we are not responsible for any such delays.

• Please always make an appointment with a physician at our clinic after you undergo a hospital investigation in order to discuss results. We will do our best to contact you to book an appointment if your investigation results are abnormal. We will attempt to call you and, if we are unable to reach you or a family member, or to leave a voicemail, we shall send you a letter in the mail. From time to time, we may contact you to discuss relevant normal results. However, note that no follow up system is 100% accurate or failsafe. Therefore, we suggest that you follow up with a doctor at our clinic after every hospital investigation that you undergo.

• Please note that at times we may need to leave messages on your voicemail (such as the time and place of a specialist referral or a message that lab tests are normal). We will, however, leave only very general information on voicemail. Hence, please provide us with the most secure phone number(s) that you have. If one of your phone numbers cannot or should not be used to leave voicemail messages due to confidentiality concerns, please ask us to remove this phone number from your chart.

• Appropriate and current evidence-based guidelines direct all medical investigations. If you need to cancel/reschedule an appointment with a test center, it is your responsibility to contact the testing center directly.