PATIENT AGREEMENT
Updated April 20, 2024
Dear Patient:
We are thrilled to have you board this ship with us, with the common goal of being part of the solution. We hope we can provide you with some of the best care you have ever received (the “TLC experience”), in addition to accomplishing the three-fold Mission of TLC Family Health. The purpose of this agreement is to outline some guidelines that will help us accomplish these goals together.
Office Hours*
Monday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Thursday 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
*Hours may change - see Online Appointment Scheduling Page. Lunch is taken from 12:00p - 1:00p every day.
Scheduling, Paying for, and Attending Appointments
For your first appointment, DO NOT schedule only a 20-minute visit. We will need at least 40 minutes to adequately get to know you/your medical history and manage your current issues. Appointments are easily scheduled online (see the Book Appt. button on the Home Page or the navigation link at the top right). We encourage you to use this online function, which is more efficient. We use a third party (Acuity) for online scheduling, since the Elation Passport Patient Portal Appointments option has too many limitations at this time. If you ask or call for an appointment, we will direct you to the correct Book Appt. function.
Appointments are billed around the time they are booked, with any necessary adjustments made as needed afterwards (e.g., for extra time taken or treatment given – see below, under Billing for Time), through the same third-party payment system (Hint Health) used when you signed up. For more information, see our Pricing of Services table at https://www.tlcfamilyhealth.com/pricing.
For in-office, telephone or video visits, we’ve developed a new, unique scheduling system that drastically reduces wait times. Instead of simply specifying a start time, blocks of time are reserved, just like a lesson or class. For example, if you schedule a 40-minute appointment, your appointment must conclude by the time the 40-minute block is over – if more time is needed, except in emergencies, another appointment will need to be scheduled or a follow-up phone call can be made (usual charges apply – see Billing for Time below). This will ensure that subsequent patients can be seen on time.
As such (for in-office visits), please arrive with plenty of lead time to be able to be checked in and begin your visit at the appointed time. We recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early if you are an established patient, and 25-30 minutes early if you are a new patient. If you arrive late, if there is still an adequate amount of time left in your appointment slot, you may still see me up until the end of the block (also see our Late Policy below).
Remember that the practice of medicine (especially Family Medicine, which deals with the whole body, mind and soul) can be very unpredictable, and not all problems are equal (e.g., the evaluation of chest pain takes a lot longer than that of a skin lesion); therefore, there can be no guarantees as to how much will be accomplished in a particular visit. How much time you wish to reserve should be based on your past experience or the level of complexity of the problem(s) needing to be addressed. See the Book Appt. page for examples that will help you estimate how much time you may desire to reserve.
Late and No-Show Policy
If you know you are going to be late, please let us know (call us at 972-914-9421). If there is still an adequate amount of time left in your appointment slot, you may still come in, but your visit must still end at the appointed time (see Scheduling section above), unless the next patient appointment slot is open. We will do our best to accommodate you. If you cannot make it in or otherwise prefer, you have the option of converting your visit to a telephone or video visit. If you must reschedule, as a courtesy to other patients who may need the appointment slot, try to do so at least 2 hours prior to your appointment start time. We will take last-minute emergencies into consideration.
Telephone, Video, and Portal Visits
When you reserve a telephone appointment, we will do our very best to call you at the appointed time.
When you reserve a video appointment, go to www.doxy.me/drcluff (for Dr. Cluff), https://doxy.me/drbraswell7 (for Dr. Braswell), or https://doxy.me/beckymaxwellpa (for Becky Maxwell, PA) shortly before the appointment time and check in. We will do our very best to join you at the appointed time.
When you wish to address concerns via the Patient Portal, you may send us a message at any time. Portal messages must not be used for emergencies (see For Emergencies section below), as response time is based on availability; most responses will occur within a few hours, but almost guaranteed within 24 business hours (if the problem becomes urgent while waiting, contact us as below).
Billing for time
When appropriate, outside of regularly-scheduled visits, we bill in 5-minute increments ($2.50 for Gold members, $12.50 for Silver members) for managing your care, e.g.:
Visits that go much longer than scheduled
Follow-up phone calls or unscheduled phone consultations that require medical decision-making
Portal consultations
Preparing referrals, including medical record compilation
Research time that is specifically requested or needed outside of the expected knowledge of the field of Family Medicine
For more information, see our Pricing of Services table.
How to Reach Us
One of the cardinal features and benefits of TLC Family Health is ACCESSIBILITY!
For clinical/patient issues: Through the Elation Passport Patient Portal
For non-clinical issues: E-mail us at info@tlcfamilyhealth.com. DO NOT include Private Health Information (PHI) as it is not a secure e-mail.
Office phone: 972-914-9421 (however, if you are trying to reach us for non-urgent issues, we strongly encourage you to send us a message through the portal as opposed to trying to communicate through our medical assistant – it is more efficient and reduces the likelihood of error).
For Emergencies
If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 911 (then update us through the portal when able).
If you require an urgent care visit during office hours, go online to schedule an appointment (we reserve a few slots each day for urgent care). If no slots are available, please send us a message through the Portal and we will try to accommodate you. If time is of the essence, please call our office. If you still can’t reach us, follow steps 3(1) or 3(2) below.
If you require attention after hours (or even during the day if no appointments are available and you cannot reach us via the Portal or office phone), remember that one of our major goals is to save you money by preventing a visit to an urgent/emergency care center:
If it is urgent and you need to contact us immediately (i.e., you need us to stop whatever we are doing and call ASAP), text "Call (first name) NOW" to our personal cell phone (provided in the New Patient Orientation PowerPoint presentation attached to your Welcome e-mail – if you cannot find it, send us a message through the Portal or go ahead and call our office number at 972-914-9421 and leave a message). If you do not hear from us within an acceptable time frame, text again or call.
If it is urgent but can wait up to a couple of hours, send us a message through the Portal; then, if we do not respond in an acceptable period of time, text “Please check portal.” If we don’t respond to that in the time frame needed, revert to #1 above.
Note: In the rare case we do not respond, there is likely a very good reason (e.g., we’re zip-lining, in surgery, in the shower, or on a plane; or our cell phone died; or we’re in a service that requires cell phones to be off), and you still need to seek whatever care you feel is necessary (e.g., at an urgent or emergency care center).
Use of Our Cell Phones
Please use our cell phones only for emergencies as outlined above. If you call us, since we do not store patient information in our phones, we will send you to voicemail, since we receive calls from a lot of telemarketers. Please do not text us for non-urgent issues. Our cell phones are not linked to the chart, so if you do, we will kindly ask you to send the message through the Patient Portal to facilitate proper (and less time-consuming) documentation.
When We’re out of Town or Sick
There may be times that we leave town or become ill. Whenever we do, we are usually still reachable via the Patient Portal or the office phone (972-914-9421) – or you may text us as above if it is an emergency. Depending on the circumstances, we may even be able to schedule a telephone or video visit. If we are unavailable or unreachable and you need urgent care, go to an urgent or emergency care center. When we are out of the office, our medical assistant will usually still be in the office during normal business hours for testing or injections, which we will orchestrate. If you need to be evaluated in person, another provider may be able to see you.
Medication Refills
We usually put enough refills on a medicine to last until we need to see you again. So, if you are on your last refill, please schedule an appointment. If you do not feel you need an appointment, you may send us the refill request through the Patient Portal. Remember that any medical management (e.g., trying to obtain updated blood pressure measurements, confirming you are taking the medicine as prescribed) is billed as outlined in the Billing for Time section above. In addition, there is a $5 charge for Silver members for refills between visits.
Controlled Substances
Patients who require ongoing Schedule II-V controlled substances must be seen every 3 months until stable for 6 months, then every 6 months thereafter. These medicines will not be prescribed without carefully reviewing, signing, and abiding by our Policy Regarding Controlled Substances. Narcotics (such as hydrocodone and Tylenol III with codeine) and benzodiazepines (such as Valium and Xanax) are not prescribed for regular, long-term use. You will be referred to a pain management doctor or psychiatrist if that is desired or needed.
Using Your Health Savings Account (HSA) Card or Submitting Expenses to Your Insurance for Reimbursement
HSA cards can now be used for all expenses in our practice. Gold TLC Family Health members consider most expenses (outside the monthly membership fees) too small to go through the trouble of submitting them to insurance; however, if you are an insured Silver member, you may ask for a superbill for office visits and other expenses so those can be submitted. Unfortunately, because we have opted out of Medicare, Medicare patients cannot submit bills for reimbursement. If you have Medicare, you must agree to this stipulation (by signing a Medicare Private Contract).
TLCs (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes)
One of our primary goals is to improve your health through “TLCs,” especially through proper nutrition. See www.NutritionStar.org for more information. By joining our practice, you agree that you will try hard to work with us to improve your health through TLCs!
The Quest (Newsletter)
Once every three months we will send you our newsletter via e-mail. Click HERE to view past issues. It contains news, a calendar of events, medical and practice information, messages about lifestyle and nutrition, and a recipe each time. We will only occasionally send you important announcements outside of the newsletter. If you desire to opt out, please do so, or if you prefer to have us remove you from the list manually, let us know as soon as possible. Otherwise, by signing this agreement, you agree to receive them.
Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram for helpful tips and to keep up with goings-on! We look forward to embarking on this journey with you! We plan on making changes to our practice model if we feel it will help us accomplish our Mission, so please give us feedback on how we are doing, what we can do better, or any other ideas you would like to share.
TLC Family Health Staff