Policies

We work hard to not overuse antibiotics.

We educate families on appropriate use of antibiotics, but follow evidence-based guidelines and don’t automatically treat ear pain or a green snotty nose with antibiotics.

We do not prescribe antibiotics over the phone and we never provide refills for antibiotics.  

We will prescribe an antibiotic when we believe it is an appropriate treatment.

We ask that you arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time. 

* Please have your insurance information on hand when you arrive for your appointment.

*Please try to arrive with completed forms needed whenever possible. Forms can be found under the 'Forms' tab above on the drop-down menu.

We understand sometimes things happen beyond your control that may cause you to be late. However, if you arrive late for your appointment, we will do our very best to see your child, depending on the nature of your appointment, we may need to ask you to reschedule if you are late.

Our practice makes every effort to run on time with appointments, as we believe everyone’s time is equally valuable.

Missed Appointments: Broken appointments represent a cost to us, to you, and to other patients who could have been seen in the time set aside for you. We reserve the right to charge a fee for canceled or missed appointments. We request 24 hours notice for cancellation of appointments.

For new patients, a fee may be charged if the FIRST appointment is missed.

Please click below to see our financial policy.

Our Patient Portal is provided by St. Rose Pediatrics for the exclusive use of its patients and authorized parents, legal guardians, and other caregivers.

If you believe your account security has been compromised, please notify us immediately so we can reset your credentials. New patients will be assigned a temporary password at their first office visit.

By logging in, you attest that you are a member of one of the groups above and will use any confidential medical information disclosed to you only for its intended purposes. Any other use is strictly forbidden.

**IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PATIENT PORTAL MESSAGES**

Effective immediately, please do not attach photographs when messaging providers through the patient portal, as we cannot view them.

Additionally, please refrain from sending portal messages for nursing advice after 4:45 PM Monday through Friday and on weekends and holidays. 

Portal messages are only monitored during business hours. Thank you for being understanding.

Efficiency through the use of technology

Our Patient Portal is provided by St. Rose Pediatrics for the exclusive use of its patients and authorized parents, legal guardians, and other caregivers.

If you believe your account security has been compromised, please notify us immediately so we can reset your credentials. New patients will be assigned a temporary password at their first office visit.

By logging in, you attest that you are a member of one of the groups above and will use any confidential medical information disclosed to you only for its intended purposes. Any other use is strictly forbidden.

**IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PATIENT PORTAL MESSAGES**

Effective immediately, please do not attach photographs when messaging providers through the patient portal, as we cannot view them.

Additionally, please refrain from sending portal messages for nursing advice after 4:45 PM Monday through Friday and on weekends and holidays. 

Portal messages are only monitored during business hours. Thank you for being understanding.

As medical professionals, we feel very strongly that vaccinating children on schedule with currently available vaccines is absolutely the right thing to do for all children and young adults. 

*Please see our Vaccine Myths tab for more complete information.

We are making you aware of these facts not to scare you or coerce you, but to emphasize the importance of vaccinating your child. We are more than willing to discuss any questions you may have about vaccines, but do require all new patients to our practice to adhere to the vaccination schedule endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious illness and to save lives.

We firmly believe in the safety of our vaccines.

We firmly believe that all children and young adults should receive all of the recommended vaccines according to the schedule published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

We firmly believe, based on all available literature, evidence, and current studies, that vaccines do not cause autism or other developmental disabilities.

We firmly believe that thimerosal, a preservative that has been in vaccines for decades and remains in some vaccines, does not cause autism or other developmental disabilities.

We firmly believe that vaccinating children and young adults may be the single most important health promoting intervention we perform as health care providers, and that you can support as parents/caregivers.

The recommended vaccines and the schedule of administration are the results of years and years of scientific study and data-gathering on millions of children by thousands of our brightest scientists and physicians.

The vaccine campaign is truly a victim of its own success. It is precisely because vaccines are so effective at preventing illness that we are even discussing whether or not they should be given. Because of vaccines, many of you have never seen a child with polio, tetanus, whooping cough, bacterial meningitis, or even chickenpox, or known a friend or family member whose child died of one of these diseases. Such success can make us complacent or even lazy about vaccinating. But such an attitude, if it becomes widespread, can only lead to tragic results.

Over the past several years, many people in Europe have chosen not to vaccinate their children with the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine after publication of an unfounded suspicion (later retracted) that the vaccine caused autism. As a result of under-immunization, there have been small outbreaks of measles and several deaths from complications of measles in Europe over the past several years. The United States experienced a record number of measles cases during 2019, with 1282 cases from 31 states reported to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). This is the greatest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that by not vaccinating your child, you are taking selfish advantage of thousands of others who do vaccinate their children, which decreases the likelihood that a child will contract one of these diseases. We feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable. Even delaying or “breaking up the vaccines” to give one or two at a time over additional visits goes against expert recommendations, is not supported by any scientific data, can lead to unnecessary delays and errors, and can put your child, other children, and adults at risk for serious illness (or even death). It is therefore against our medical advice as professionals at St. Rose Pediatrics.