What is a Patient-Centered Medical Home? What does it mean for you as our patient; what do we as your care team will do for you; and what we expect you to do for your health?
A patient-centered medical home means that you will be surrounded by a dedicated team of health professionals: working together with you, to optimize your health goals using the best evidence-based medicine, education, and resources available for you today, thus helping to empower you to take responsibility for your health and give you the self-management support you need to succeed.
**Please note that we now have a patient portal where you will be able to retrieve medical record access online! Please contact our office at 727-372-6760 or text our office at 727-372-6760 to get set up today!
As your primary care provider, we will:
- Learn about your child, your family, your life situation, and your health goals and preferences. Our team will recall your health history every time you seek care and will suggest treatments that make sense for you.
- Take care of any short-term illness, long-term chronic disease, and you or your child’s all-around well-being.
- Keep you or your child up-to-date on all vaccines and preventative screening tests.
- Connect you or your child with other members of your care teams (specialists, health coaches, etc.) and coordinate care with them as you or your child’s health needs change.
- Find appropriate behavioral help as needed (including specialists, support groups, etc.) We will assist you with this by providing a list of local behavioral health care workers and referrals as needed.
- Help you understand your insurance options, should you be uninsured. Our Billing Manager can provide our families with information on obtaining coverage if needed. East Lake Pediatrics provides equal access to care regardless of the child’s insurance.
- Be available to you or your child, after hours, for urgent medical needs. Our Trinity location is open 7 AM to 5 PM Monday through Thursday and 8 AM to 5 PM on Friday. Our Palm Harbor is open 8 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday. Our Oldsmar office is open Monday from 9 AM to 6 PM, Tuesday from 8 AM to 6 PM, and Wednesday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM. Should you require medical care outside of these hours, urgent needs can be directed to our main office phone number (727)-372-6760. Details regarding after-hours service are found in the welcome letter.
- Notify you of test results.
- Communicate clearly so that all conditions and options are well-understood.
- Listen to your questions and feelings. We will respond promptly to you, and your calls, in a way you understand.
- Help you make the best decisions for your care.
- Give you information about classes, support groups, or other services that can help you learn more about your condition and stay healthy. This information can be found on our website in the Patient Education section within the Patient Care tab. We also have information sheets that may be provided during your office visit and they are also available on our website. The information contained within these resources is culled from evidence-based standards.
- Help you understand your insurance options, should you be uninsured – all children deserve equal care to stay healthy, please contact our billing manager for more information.
- We are committed to providing equal access to our services regardless of the source of payment.
- Should your family need to transfer out of our practice our HIPAA Compliance Officer can assist you in obtaining your child’s records or have them transferred to your new provider. A guardian just needs to fill out our Medical Record Release form on the Forms page of our website and return it to our Referral Coordinator in the office to initiate this process.
