Andrea Franchett, MD & Michael Zimmerman, MD
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The Agreements
We believe that honesty and communication are key to successful relationships. Please take a moment to review the items below to ensure we have a common understanding.
Access to Care
At Temescal Creek Medicine we limit the total number of patients we have to optimize our availability to deliver care. We attempt to balance daily schedules to allow for same day access the majority of the time. We also provide several different ways for you to interact with your doctor. We believe patients should be able to access health care in ways that best suit their needs. For some, this may mean office visits, for others, telephone or video appointments, even house calls. Our goal is to provide the care you want and need, when and how you want it.
Timely Communication
Temescal Creek Medicine has adopted policies to ensure timely communication between patients and our office. During business hours we strive to answer your calls directly 90% of the time. If you do get a voice message we will return calls within 30 minutes. We strive to reply to patient portal messages within 24 hours, often much sooner.
After Hours non urgent voice messages or portal messages will be returned by the following morning. Weekend calls and messages will be returned Monday morning at the latest. The doctors provide 24/7 on call coverage for urgent matters that require a conversation with the doctor.
For emergencies please dial 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Team Care
At Temescal Creek Medicine we believe healthcare is a team effort. Dr Franchett, Dr Zimmerman and Dr Pallis rely on each other and their Care Coordinator staff to be able to provide the best possible care. This team works in an integrated fashion using a shared electronic medical record. While you may often receive care from a specific provider you will get the most out of Temescal Creek Medicine by understanding us as a team.
Coordination of Care
Your primary care team can play a valuable role in helping to coordinate your health care across a presently fragmented health care delivery system. We have committed significant resources in a comprehensive Electronic Medical Record which allows us to collect and hold data from multiple sources. This includes reviewing and discussing information from tests and studies, specialty visits, and hospital based care. We will often require your assistance to ensure we have information and data from these sources to optimize our ability to help coordinate your health care.
Performance Reporting and Improvement
Temescal Creek Medicine seeks to improve effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness and other aspects of quality by measuring and reporting performance, comparing itself to national benchmarks, and providing regular feedback to doctors and staff. From time to time we may request your feedback in narrative or survey form and would appreciate your participation.
Specialty Referrals
If your health care requires the contribution of a specialist we can provide the necessary clinical information for you to bring with you. We have excellent relationships with specialists across the Bay Area and we are happy to make recommendations based on our personal experience and the experiences of our other patients. Patients are ultimately responsible for ensuring specialty and imaging care are covered benefits. We have the expectation that our specialists provide timely, pleasant and appropriate care. After your specialty visit we will often request feedback to confirm your experience was consistent with our expectations.
Patient Engagement
We believe that active patient participation and engagement is essential to achieve optimal health. Your health care team at Temescal Creek Medicine will work with you to provide support, information and guidance. We are interested in open, forthright conversations and shared decision making with regards to your health and care.
Electronic Communication
We encourage the majority of communication through messaging on our patient portal. This allows us to receive, route and respond to your message in the safest and most efficient manner. You are always welcome to call us if you have an urgent matter or feel uncomfortable with the patient portal.
A note about email. While we do still use standard email for some limited communications, it is definitely the least efficient way to communicate with us. Common sense must always be exercised and Temescal Creek Medicine cannot guarantee the security and confidentiality of standard email communications if you opt to use them with us.
Clinically relevant emails may be made part of the medical record and may be forwarded internally to staff in the course of care.
Portal messages and email are NOT appropriate for urgent matters or medical emergencies. Do not use e-mail for sensitive matters. If a reply is needed before a message or e-mail is returned please contact the office by phone.
Credit Card Authorization
Cancellation and No-Show Charge
In order to limit the amount of resources we need to divert from patient care to collect payments we require that all patients maintain an active credit card on file with our office. We accept Visa and American Express. Your credit card will be charged only when appropriate for charges not covered by insurance which may include email visits, telephone visit, copays, visit and procedure charges and cancellation charges at the time of service. You will receive an invoice with all charges. You may cancel you credit card relationship with us at anytime by written notification to Temescal Creek Medicine.
In order to run an efficient business we rely on patients keeping scheduled appointments. We set aside time and resources based on our schedule. If you cancel an appointment with less than 24 hours notice and we cannot fill the appointment time you will be charged the full cost of the visit. If you "No Show" for the visit there is also a charge for the full cost of the visit.