Denton Urology: Email Policy

To better serve our patients, this office has established an email address for some forms of communication. For routine matters that do not require immediate response, please feel free to contact us via the Secure Messaging system available at Dr. Casey's YourMD.com Site. Please remember however, that this form of communication is not appropriate for use in an emergency. The turnaround time for routine patient communications is 3 working days. The service provider may delay message delivery. Should you require urgent or immediate attention, this medium is not appropriate.

When sending email, please put the subject of your message in the subject line so we can process it more efficiently. Some forms of communication (e. g., HIV, mental health, work related injuries and disability) are not appropriate for email. Also, be sure to put your name, patient ID number and return telephone number in the body of the message. We also ask that you acknowledge receipt of email coming from this office by using the auto reply feature.

Communications relating to diagnosis and treatment will be filed in your medical record.

This office is dedicated to keeping your medical record information confidential. Despite our best efforts, due to the nature of email, third parties may have access to messages. When communicating from work, you should be aware that some companies consider email corporate property and your messages may be monitored. In addition, you should be aware that, although addressed to me, my staff and/or colleagues would have access to this information.

I understand that this office will not be responsible for information loss or delay or breaches in confidentiality that are due to technical factors beyond this office’s control.

Patient Signature Witness (optional)

Date________________________ Patient ID_________________

(You will be asked to sign a copy of this document, or similar facsimile at your office visit).

Rules for On-Call Patient Phone Calls*
(If you need to have the Doctor "On-Call" paged for urgent problems by phone,
please understand these simple rules):

Rules for “Patient Calls” to Dr. Casey while On Call (*Dr. Admire may have different 'rules'):

Only actually established Denton Urology patients (i.e. patients who have recently seen Dr. Admire or Dr. Casey in the office or the hospital) will be allowed to have the doctor paged. If it has been over 3 years since your last contact with either doctor, you are officially a "new patient" and are NOT eligible.

The patient will be notified by the answering service which doctor is on call so that they know in advance who will be calling back – some patients may not wish to speak with the doctor on call if it is NOT their own doctor.

Dr. Casey accepts calls from patients ONLY from “office closing” (usually about 4:30 PM) until 10 PM. Any callers after 10 PM will be told to either wait and contact the office in the morning if it is not an urgent issue, or if the issue is urgent enough that a doctor’s advice is needed right away, the ER is open 24 hours a day for their use. Calls in the early hours of the morning (i.e. 6 AM until office opening) can generally wait until the office phones are unforwarded (usually about 8:30 AM), and the nurses can field these calls once the office opens…again if there’s an emergency during these hours, the ER is the best bet. On weekends, Dr. Casey returns patient phone calls from 8 AM to 10 PM.

Dr. Casey accepts ONE CALL per patient per 24 hour period. This is a courtesy service, and the patient should be prepared for their call, and ask all the questions they have on that first and only allowed call. Only under special circumstances on a case-by-case basis (and Dr. Casey will notify the answering service about these cases) will certain patients with difficult situations be allowed more than 1 call.

Patients who have "Anonymous Call Block" activated on their phones (i.e. their phone systems won’t accept phone calls from Caller ID blocked phones) should DISABLE this function before having the doctor paged. Dr. Casey’s phones (both home and cell) have the outgoing Caller ID number blocked purposefully for privacy reasons, and he WILL NOT release his private cell or home phone numbers to patients. If the doctor is paged to a phone that doesn’t accept blocked calls, that patient will NOT get a second chance to speak with the doctor. Patients should be warned to disable this function by the answering service by picking up their phone, getting a dial tone and pressing *87 to disable Anonymous Call Block. *77 Re-activates Anonymous Call Block once the doctor has called.

NO narcotic prescription refills or new narcotic prescriptions are available over the phone via this paging system UNLESS Dr. Casey knows the patient and can be assured the patient is actually in need, so don't even ask unless you've had a recent surgery, or are a "known" patient of Dr. Casey, or if Dr. Admire has 'checked out' your case to Dr. Casey. If a patient claims to be a patient of Dr. Admire but he has not been “checked out” to Dr. Casey as the on-call physician, any request for narcotics will be denied as frequent ploys and ‘scams’ to get narcotics have been perpetrated over the years, unfortunately.

Thank you for your thoughtfulness regarding these guidelines…being able to have the doctor paged after-hours is a courtesy service we provide, and is not something that all physicians allow. We apologize for any problems that these rules may cause to innocent and truly needy patients, but the courtesy call-back system has simply been abused by drug-seekers and others with minor non-urgent problems for far too long. The numerous calls received regarding "office issues" or for issues that simply cannot be adequately addressed over the telephone is very disruptive to the doctors' personal and private lives, and may increase the liability of our physicians and more importantly put the patient at risk since we cannot diagnose over the telephone...so for your safety, seek care with an actual physician in person (ER or Minor Emergency Center) if you believe you have an Urgent or Emergency issue. Remember, "Call us if you need us...
but NEED US if you call us!..."

DLC

11/12/2007