Your First Appointment

We’re looking forward to making your acquaintance and taking care of you!

• Please plan to arrive at least 30 minutes ahead of your scheduled appointment time to leave yourself ample time to complete your health history forms.
• If you prefer, we can mail or FAX (941-966-1222) your forms to you in advance (upon request) prior to your scheduled appointment day.
• Bring your insurance card(s) with you.
• Be certain to check with your primary care physician or health insurance carrier (particularly for HMO or PPO patients) prior to your visit, to see if you will require a primary care provider’s or other specialist’s referral before being seen. If so, please arrange to have the referral arrive in our office before your scheduled appointment date, or bring it along with you.
• Bring any medical records that you have along with you.
• Bring an updated list of all your medications that you are currently taking. You should make it a routine practice to bring an updated medication list to all physicians’ appointments, as your medication list should be reviewed and confirmed, before any adjustments are made. If you prefer to bring your current medications with you to your office visit, we will be happy to print an updated list for you to maintain and take home with you.
• Please provide us with a list of any other physicians (along with their addresses, telephone numbers, and FAX numbers) that you are seeing, and that you would like to receive a copy of your office records. It is important that we have an accurate and updated FAX number for any physician that you would like to have us forward any of your records to. Faxing still remains the most commonly used means of transferring medical records between healthcare providers. Without proper FAX data for your other physician(s), your records may not be received by them in a timely fashion.
• Plan to remain in the office for an extended amount of time (if necessary). An initial examination and review of records may require up to an hour or more. Most patients will have an electrocardiogram done prior to being seen by the physician. Under certain circumstances, additional on-site testing or monitoring may be requested. These studies may add additional time to your evaluation. As such, even subsequent return appointments may take up to 45 minutes or more (depending upon the complexity of your situation).