Patient Information
Patients Transferring To This Office
Patients transferring to this office should ask their previous doctor to forward a copy of their records. To help you in this process, we will supply you with a HIPAA-compliant record transfer request if you need one. Also, please make sure you have made any necessary changes with your insurance company.
Routine Health Care/Well Child Visits
We typically see children for well child care beginning at the age of about 1 week and at 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, and 30 months. Well child care includes routine assessments of child growth, development, a complete exam, immunizations and discussion of any questions you may have. Annual visits are recommended after age 3 until age 21. For children over the age of 2, well child visits are usually booked at least two months in advance. We generally see patients through age 21 (or until high school graduation).Weekends, Evenings and Holiday Schedules
You may reach one of our health providers at any time after normal business hours. If an urgent issue or concern arises please call our main office number (413) 599-1201, and our answering service will take the necessary information. The on-call provider should call you back within 30 minutes at most. If you do not hear back within this time, please recall our answering service to see if there was a problem. PLEASE make sure all phone blocks are disabled while awaiting a return call. Upon returning your call, the doctor will decide whether your child needs emergency room evaluation, can wait until the next day to be seen in our office, or if the concern can simply be managed over the phone. One of our health providers comes to our Wilbraham office on weekends and holidays for urgent issues and a limited number of Well Child Visits (physical exams), usually in the morning for a few hours. If a concern arises and there is a possibility that your child may need to be seen for an urgent problem on the weekend or on a holiday, please call between 7 a.m.and 10 a.m., if possible. Otherwise, if the problem cannot be managed over the phone, the health provider may refer you to the emergency room.Newborn Hospital Care

In September of 2017 our providers stopped rounding on babies born at Baystate Medical Center. While we may no longer be seeing you at Baystate Medical Center in the first few days after your delivery, please be assured that you and your newborn will continue to be in good hands. Our pediatric colleagues and residents at Baystate will assess and care for your newborn prior to their discharge. We will receive information about your newborn and be made aware of any and all concerns before their first office visit with us. If you have any questions about the care of your newborn during your stay, please don’t hesitate to call our office. While in the hospital, babies typically receive a Hepatitis B immunization, a hearing evaluation, and a newborn screening blood test which checks for certain rare diseases.
For mothers who are planning on breastfeeding, the nurses in Labor and Delivery are a valuable resource for general questions regarding nursing. Sometimes, problems or questions with breastfeeding do not arise until you are home from the hospital. If this is the case, just call our office to speak with your pediatrician or one of our nurses. We may refer you to a lactation consultant if non-routine breastfeeding problems arise. Our office is very committed to supporting nursing moms in any way possible.
Parents of newborns should be sure to notify the insurance company of the baby’s birth as soon as reasonably possible (within 3 days is preferable). Billing issues generally go more smoothly when the parent has made a call directly to the insurance company to be sure the baby is enrolled.
Other Hospitalized Patients
