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William H. McMicken, M.D.

This medical practice is limited to Internal Medicine, both Primary Care and inpatient hospital care

Services
• Quality personalized primary care, in office and in the hospital, in the tradition of the "family doctor", for persons aged 16 years and older.
• Specialty practice in Internal Medicine.
• Medical consultation services, such as preoperative medical evaluations, and diagnosis of multisystem disorders with complex symptoms.
• Referrals for specialty consultations
• Weight control counseling and therapy
• Electrocardiograms.
• Physical Therapy
• Minor surgical procedures.
• Clinical Laboratory: This office does not perform laboratory procedures in the office, but we collect blood and/or other biologic specimens for transport to a reference laboratory.

Appointments
• Patients are requested to make a scheduled appointment for routine visits.
• Dr. McMicken usually prefers that new patients have an initial visit of 45 - 60 minutes for a complete medical history and physical examination.
• New patients will be asked to complete a written medical history form prior to the first visit whenever possible.
• Routine follow-up visits are usually expected to be between 10 - 15 minutes. Please let the appointment desk know if your visit is for a special service, such as preoperative consultation requiring a written report to the referring physician and special testing or electrocardiogram, so you may be given extra time.
• Patients are seen in order of their appointment time and not in order of arrival.
• In the event of acute illness, please call ahead to be worked into the schedule on the same day if necessary.
• Severe, acute illnesses that may be life threatening or require immediate x-rays or laboratory studies not done in the office, are best treated in the nearest hospital Emergency Department.
• At times there will be emergency problems and situations which will make it impossible to adhere to the prearranged office schedule.
• If office hours must be delayed or curtailed, the office staff will inform you and give you the option of either rescheduling your appointment or waiting until the doctor can see you.

Insurance
• Dr. McMicken is a participating physician with Medicare, Blue Shield, and Inter-county insurances; and participates as primary care physician with the following HMO and "managed care" plans: Aetna, Americare and Keystone Health Plan, PruCare, MetLife, and others.
• Referrals for HMO patients require prior approval of the doctor and are done electronically. No forms need be picked up at the office. Please give 48 hours notice when you need a referral, unless there is a true emergency situation.
• An electronic referral must be placed in the computer system before seeing specialists or having diagnostic studies. If you do not have a referral, the consultant or diagnostic study provider may refuse to serve you.
• Medicare patients are responsible for the annual $100 deductible each year, and the 20% of the bill not covered by Medicare unless it is covered by a secondary or "Medigap" insurance plan. If Medicare does not automatically transmit your claim to your secondary insurance, you are personally responsible for payment and collection from your econdary insurer. This will require you to submit your Medicare Explanation of Benefits form to the secondary insurer with your claim.
• Under Federal Law a physician may not waive the 20% payment and accept the 80% paid by Medicare as payment in full.
• Commercial insurance will be billed and assignment accepted in payment of covered services or special procedures.
• If an insurance company does not pay a bill within 60 days, the patient will be billed personally and expected to pay. Payment of fees is ultimately a personal obligation and responsibility of the patient.

Telephone Calls
• When you call the office, please give your name, telephone number, and the purpose of your call. 
• Office assistants are trained to help the doctor in evaluation of your problem, and are instructed to ask for the pertinent information and history of your problem and inform the doctor. It is not necessary to speak with the doctor himself for information about routine office matters. 
• Problems that require lengthy explanations are better solved in a new office visit than on the telephone. 
• Routine telephone calls regarding information, lab test results, prescription refills, etc., should be made during regular office hours! When the telephone calls are extremely heavy, the caller may get a message informing him/her that all lines are busy, and asking to leave a voice mail message. Please call again if all lines are busy, since important calls should not be left as voice mail messages, since they may not be checked until later in the day or the next regular office hours. 
• For urgent or emergency problems during or after hours, please call 215 947-6470. A voice mail message will answer calls after hours, on weekends, and holidays, and will give you instructions on how to reach Dr. McMicken or the doctor on call. If Dr. McMicken is not on call, the name of the physician on call will be given as well as instructions on how to contact the physician on call. 
• The doctor may not be able to return your call directly and efficiently if you automatically refuse calls from callers who block their number.
• The doctor on call also has a busy hospital schedule to maintain. If you do not receive a call back within a reasonable time, please place your call again.
• If Dr. McMicken is away, the physician covering may not be able to renew prescriptions without examining you himself. Also, the physician on call will not renew or give prescriptions for narcotics or controlled substances by telephone. It is therefore advisable to check medicine supplies and request routine prescription renewals before weekends and holidays. 
• Non-urgent messages, requests for referrals, lab or x-ray reports, etc., may be sent to the office by FAX, whether the office is open or not. Fax messages sent after hours, on weekends, or holidays, will not be seen until the next working day.  FAX number is (215) 947-3787. Non-urgent messages may also be sent by email, but patients must be aware that there may be a delay in receipt of email, and a high degree of privacy can not be guaranteed for unencrypted email messages.

Billing
• Statements are usually mailed within the first 10 days of each month.
• Payment is requested at the time of service if not covered by insurance with which we are participating.
• If bill is not paid by insurance within 60 days, statement will be sent directly to patient who is then responsible for prompt payment.
• If bill payment can not be made promptly, please discuss the problem with our office staff, who will help you arrange a payment plan.
• See section on Insurance in the column above.

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