David S. Weingarden, M.D. & Associates, P.C.

If you are participating in a health insurance plan that requires referrals to see our doctors, it is necessary that you contact your primary care (or family doctor) to obtain those referrals. Each insurance plan is unique, but the referral process is similar in these ways:

1. Your Primary Care Physician (PCP) typically provides your referrals.
2. If you have just changed your insurance you may have to identify and see a new Primary Care Physician. Most physicians will not provide a referral to us until they have seen you.
3. Referrals are usually only good for a certain number of visits and for a limited period of time.
4. The PCP notifies your insurance company about referrals they have made and the number of visits or effective period they have approved.
5. Visits made to a specialist without a referral are not covered by health insurance. The doctyors in our practice are specialists. Depending on your insurance coverage, you may be responsible for any charges as a result of treatment without the necessary referral.

We ask our patients to take a very active role in keeping up with referrals and obtaining new referrals. Please be sure all required referrals are provided to this office before your next appointment. If you do not know whether a referral has been made, please contact your Primary Care Physician. If there is a problem, our billing representatives will try to assist you. Please call us at 586-228-2882.

1. We are happy to provide prescription refills for our patients. However, we will only refill those medications that we prescribed. To refill any other medicines, please contact your primary care physician.
2. To avoid errors and provide the best care for our patients we prefer to review your medications and provide refills at each office visit. Please bring all prescription bottles each time you are seen in our office.
3. We will not refill prescriptions for any controlled substances or narcotics after hours or on weekends.
4. As doctors are not always in the office daily, refill requests should be phoned in at least 3 days before you run out of medication.

Because available appointments are scheduled so far in advance and our physicians have very long waiting lists, we must ask for at least 48 hours notice if you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment. That way we can contact someone else to be seen. It is necessary that our patients be seen on a regular basis because of the nature of their disease and the medications we prescribe. If you frequently do not keep an appointment or you cancel an appointment without proper notice we may find that it is unsafe for us to continue to serve you, or you may be required to give a deposit before we will schedule another appointment.