Unit 2, 8 Water Street
Hastings, Ontario K0L 1Y0
Phone: (705) 696-2231
Fax: (705) 696-2138

ANNUAL PATIENT NEWSLETTER

Dear Patient and Family:

Once again, I am writing to ask for your support for our uninsured services (Non-Ohip), fee schedule. We again offer a choice of an annual fee or individual fees for those who chose not to pay the annual fee. Please note adjustments in the fees this year, which reflect increases in cost of living and over head expenses.

Plan A involves an all inclusive annual fee which we encourage you to obtain especially if you visit frequently as it would save you money in the long run. Plan B involves a charge for individual services for those who decline Plan A.

Please fill out the application and circle the appropriate plan of your choice, also write in your mailing address and phone number and return this form with your cheque or money order at your earliest convenience.

More so than ever, we need your support to continue to provide the services you need right here in Hastings. We have worked very hard to keep your cardiopulmonary service and laboratory right here for you and offer blood tests, ECG, PFT, holter monitor services and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring free of charge. This is available to you in the midst of several closures of small labs across the province secondary to funding restrictions imposed on the laboratory industry in Ontario. As well, despite moving my home to Belleville, I am committed to my practice full time in Hastings.

I am part of the Northumberland Family Health Group with Cobourg doctors, but my office shall remain in Hastings. Currently, we offer appointments later on Tuesday evenings as well as Monday to Friday regular hours. Demands for appointments are ever increasing as is our patient roster size. As a result, we will be reinforcing our policy of limiting the number of medical problems to be dealt with on each visit. Multiple problems require multiple appointments! During my brief absences, we have tried to provide continuity of care with locums to cover me. All of us at the Riverview Clinic are working very hard to maintain the highest level of primary medical care for you our patients. Despite the worsening physician shortage in this area and with several family doctors leaving, and others who are more and more difficult to get in to see, you can feel secure and comfortable that we will be here for you when you need us. Your support of this initiative is critical for my continued presence here in Hastings. A well-staffed and serviced solo practice is very expensive and overhead costs significantly increase every year. Agreements between the Ministry of Health and the Ontario Medical Association have fallen far short of doctors’ expectations. Please help me to stay in Hastings.

NON-OHIP FEE SCHEDULE
Please be prepared to pay the following fees if you have not paid your annual dues:

It is to your advantage to pay the annual dues; otherwise you will have to pay the above fees. Please do not request forms to be completed, notes or especially prescription refills at office and at the pharmacy unless you are plan A. These are not “covered” under OHIP and will not be done for “free” anymore.

Thanking you. Dr. E.R. Maraghi, M.D.

Family Name:_____________________________________________________________
Family Members: __________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Telephone: Home ______________________ Work _____________________________

Plan A: $100.00 Single adult ______________________
            $175.00 Family (2 Adults and children under 21) _______________________
            (Limit 5 forms per year)
Plan B: ______________________

PATIENT INFORMATION SHEET
“RULES TO LIVE BY…”

1. Prescription Renewal Policy
As a rule we do not renew prescriptions by phone. It is our experience that telephone renewals result in poor care over the long term. Please remember to ask for prescription renewals during your office visit (and we’ll try and remember to remind you!) When you see your prescription is running low, phone in for an appointment. Don’t wait until you have only a day or two left – leave us some room to “maneuver” in giving you the appointment. In the rare instance when you have to renew by phone, please recognize that this has to be approved by the doctor and called in to the pharmacy and there is a small charge for this service.

2. Same day appointments
Most people try to make appointments well in advance. As you know, we have a busy practice and our schedule fills quickly. Emergencies do happen, of course, (injuries, sick children etc.) and we try to leave space in our schedule to accommodate this. Please be patient with us as we try to meet everyone’s needs, and remember, if you’re given an appointment for the same day, come prepared to wait.

3. Waiting for the doctor
Despite our best efforts, (YES we DO try!), we often run late. This is usually because of unscheduled demands – it’s hard for patients to schedule their heart attacks and accidents! Sometimes it takes longer to deal with a patient’s problem than was scheduled. Please help by telling the receptionist if you think you need some extra time. Remember, next time it may be you or a loved one in the emergency department or with a crisis in the office. Try to be patient with us and we’ll do our part.

4. “OH, by the way – while we’re here…”
Periodically a patient who has an appointment will want another family member seen at the same time. We understand that if you’ve traveled some distance, or if you’re a parent who has to get all the children together for the visit, or if you’re elderly, coming another day for a minor problem may be a major hurdle so we try to accommodate you. That puts us further behind in our schedule. If you wish us to see an extra family member, try to help us by giving us warning. Telephone ahead of time or tell the receptionist or nurse when you come so we can get the right chart out.
As well, please try to keep each visit to one or two problems. Long lists are discouraged, as it is difficult to properly address each issue if there are too many. Please book multiple appointments for multiple problems.

5. “If you could please just tell the doctor”.
Our receptionists are extremely busy people. Periodically patients want them to give the doctor a message and get back to them by phone. This is a problem for two reasons: firstly, it can make for poor communication, which may lead to an incorrect decision; secondly, it takes a lot of receptionist time – time they don’t have. Please understand when the receptionist or nurse tells you, you will have to make an appointment to have your questions answered.

6. Physician Call Backs
When it is necessary to talk with the doctor by phone, please be patient. We will try to get back to you during a quiet moment (is there such a thing?). Otherwise we’ll call during lunch hour or after the office in the afternoon

7. Laboratory and X-ray Results
As a rule, we operate on the “no news is good news” policy. We cannot possibly phone you with all the negative or normal results. If we feel that a patient needs to know the result of a test before their next scheduled appointment, we’ll call.

8. Complete physicals
The majority of “physicals” can be planned well in advance. We tend to book these six to eight weeks in advance. We will be asking you to visit the office one or two weeks before your scheduled physical so that blood work, EKG’s and other tests can be done in advance. You will not be seeing the doctor at that visit. In this way we will have most of your results available at the time of your physical and we will be able to save you another visit to go over the results. We will be able to deal with any problems at that time

Good health care is a team effort. It involves the doctor, all the office staff, and most importantly, the patients – you and your family. Let’s keep the line of communication open and we’ll all feel better.

Yours for good patient care.