Clinic Policies

New Patients

Please follow the instructions provided when you are enrolled.  You may be asked to set up an appointment or phone call to meet someone from our team.  During this first visit, your medical history will be briefly reviewed with any supporting documentation.  You will likely be registered to our clinic and/or rostered to the FHO (Family Health Organization).  Your physician may ask you to make another appointment to address any current medical issues.  Note that we do not see patients who are not registered with our clinic.

Confidentiality

It is important to us that our patients and staff understand the importance of confidentiality.  As physicians, we are obligated to keep your medical information private except under very specific or urgent circumstances.  Therefore, if a family member or employer calls to inquire regarding a patient’s medical condition or test results, we are unable to discuss it with them without previous authorization.  Our staff is also trained to respect your privacy in the same manner.

Childhood Immunization

Parents are responsible to provide their child’s immunization records to our clinic.  Without current immunization records we are unable to give any new immunizations.

Prescription Renewals

Appointments are required for prescription refills.  Please call to book an appointment when you pick up your last refill.  Physicians provide up to 1 year of medication depending on your condition and medications need reassessment to continue.  Any prescription renewal requests without an appointment will be charged a $25 fee to have a short bridging refill sent to your pharmacy, which can take up to 5 business days. In general, pharmacies are able to extend stable prescriptions.

Virtual Visits

All visits are in-person unless specified in advance by the physician.

Booking Appointments

Appointments can be booked by phone, or register for Pomelo for direct online booking options and messaging.  Pomelo is an online system that allows patients to book and manage appointments and communicate with the clinic.  Learn more by visiting our Contact Us page.  

Appointments that require coordinated nursing and physician support must be booked via reception (some well children, physicals, prenatals and diabetic reviews).

Same Day Access/After Hours Clinic vs Walk-In Clinic

For appropriate same day appointments, we ask that you contact our clinic first.  We will do our best to accommodate your health care needs.  When you use other walk-in clinics or virtual clinics, your family physician does not always receive the clinic note.  This can result in a breakdown in patient care.  Your family physician also gets penalized for the cost of walk-in visits at other clinics.  This is called Outside Use.

Outside Use Policy 

1st Outside Use – A reminder call or letter of our policy

2nd Outside Use – Warning letter

3rd Outside Use – At the discretion of your physician, you may be terminated as a patient of Greenwood Medical Centre

No Show Policy

We do not provide reminder phone calls for our patients, however the Pomelo application does send automatic reminders.  We request that you provide us with as much notice as possible when you are unable to make an appointment.  Doctor and nursing appointments cancelled with less than 1 business days’ notice will count towards your no-show count and will be managed as follows:

1. After the first no-show/late cancellation you will be mailed a copy of our policy as a reminder. 

2. After the second, a charge equivalent to the value of the missed appointment will be billed to you.  For example, the average 15 minute appointment is valued at $40.00 and the average half hour appointment is $80.00.  No further appointments will be scheduled until outstanding no-show/cancellation fees are paid.

3. After the third no show/cancellation the physician may decide to terminate the doctor-patient relationship at her or his discretion.

Please note that new patients who miss their initial intake visits will not be rebooked or accepted

Other Fees

There are other situations where a patient may be billed directly for a service that is not covered by OHIP.  For example, patients who do not have valid provincial healthcare will be billed directly for services at the time they are provided.  Most forms or notes for work are also not covered.  For a complete list of these uncovered services and their fees, please see our posted Uninsured Services Fees List.  Payments will be accepted in the form of either cash, cheque or credit card via a trusted 3rd party application (ex. Square, Helcim, PatientServ, etc.).

Patients with outstanding bills will not be able to book a scheduled appointment until their account is cleared or there is an emergency situation.

Respect for Staff

Greenwood Medical Centre maintains a zero tolerance policy for disrespectful, violent or threatening behaviour.  We ask that at all times you conduct yourself in a respectful manner with our staff and physicians, whether in person or by phone.  The same courtesy will be directed towards you.  Disrespectful or threatening behaviour towards staff, physicians or other patients will be grounds for immediate termination of the doctor-patient relationship.

Request for Copies of Medical Information

Please provide at least 14 business days’ notice for any copy of information you may require.  There are fees associated with transferring medical records to a USB memory stick, via fax, or paper copy.  Please ask a receptionist for fee details or review our clinic fees on the Uninsured Services Fees List.