Policies
Refill policy
All refills should be called directly in to the pharmacy when you are within a week of running out of medication. Routine refill requests should NOT be called in to the clinic. If there is a change or special circumstance, contact your care coordinator via e-mail or by phone. Refill requests will not be processed after business hours or on week-ends and holidays. It is your responsibility to monitor your medicines and track when you are running low.
Emergencies
If you feel you have a true emergency, call 9-1-1 immediately.
Patients under our care at the Headache Clinic should NOT go to the emergency room with their usual headache unless they have spoken with and been advised to go by the physician on call. If, for some reason, you are unable to reach the physician on call, it is acceptable to go to the emergency room. If you go to the urgent care or emergency room, provide the nurse at the front desk the Urgent Care/ER (UC/ER) Treatment Card, provided to you at your initial headache appointment at the clinic.
E-mail policy
MyHealth is the best way to communicate with your treatment team for quick responses to questions about your care. More complex questions about changes in medication, changes in your headaches or your general circumstances should be saved for an appointment. In order to maintain this very useful access tool, we ask that you limit your e-mail correspondence to relatively straight forward questions or information sharing. Do not e-mail requests for medication refills. Such requests should be directed to the pharmacy.
Phone call policy
Requests to speak with members of the treatment team should be limited to urgent issues. True emergencies should be called into 9-1-1 and routine inquiries can be best handled via MyHealth. The most common reason for calling to speak with a member of the treatment team is for help with a headache that has not been relieved by the treatment strategy discussed at your appointment or a bad reaction to a medication.
Cancellation policy
The Headache clinic is dedicated to honoring patient appointments, therefore, we do not "double book" appointments. When a patient doesn't show up, that appointment slot remains empty. In return for trying our best not to keep patients waiting, we ask that any cancellation be made AT LEAST one business day in advance. This gives us time to call someone from the waiting list. Patients who miss three appointments without calling to cancel may be dismissed from the clinic.
Narcotics contract and policy
With few exceptions, narcotics are not used in the treatment of primary headaches. You may be asked to sign a contract stating that you will not use narcotics while under our care, and we may require blood or urine testing to assure compliance. In these circumstances, any violation of that contract will result in immediate dismissal from the clinic.
