Contact Information:

Emergencies

Office Contact

Medical Questions

Managed Care Referrals

Prescription Renewals

Nurse Line

X-Ray Requests

Test Results

Returning Our Call

Email Privacy

Medical Questions

When you call for medical advice, your questions will most likely be addressed by our nursing staff and relayed to your physician as needed. Please call the office where you are seen. The nurse can help you decide whether an appointment is needed to evaluate your problem.

We ask your patience while waiting for a return call. Doctors sometimes do not find time to answer telephone questions until late in the afternoon. Be assured that we will make every effort to return your call by the end of the day.

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Managed Care Referrals

If you require a managed care referral, please call our office at least 48 hours in advance of the scheduled appointment. This allows our office staff to research the request and obtain permission from your primary care physician. Should a referral be denied, it also allows ample time for us to alert you prior to the appointment.

Prescription Renewals

When possible, we ask that you request prescription renewals during an appointment. When you call to renew your prescription, please call at least 2 days in advance so you do not run out of medication while your request is being processed.

Be prepared with the following information:

• name of the prescribing doctor
• patient's name and date of birth
• name of the medication and dosage
• name and location of the pharmacy of your choice

We will not send prescriptions via fax, nor will we accept faxed renewal requests from mail-order pharmacies. Some pharmacies now require handwritten prescriptions. Penn State University employees will find additional time is needed for processing requests.

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24-Hour Nurse Message Line

For patients in the State College office (Medicine or OB/GYN, you may use our 24-hour nurse message line at (814) 234-0827 to record requests for prescriptions, managed care referrals, or to leave your blood glucose readings. Evening and weekend calls will be processed on the next business day, so do not leave urgent messages.

X-ray Requests

When calling to request X-rays, please give at least 24 hours notice and be prepared with the patient’s name, date of birth, social security number, and which films are needed.

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Test Results

When you have laboratory studies, x-rays, or other diagnostic testing performed, we will call you with any abnormal results. Please be patient and wait for our staff to call you rather than calling us. We may need two or more days to receive the report and have your physician review the results. Be assured that any urgent or critical values will be attended to immediately. In most cases, laboratory results will be given only to the patient or to a parent or guardian in the case of a minor.

Returning Our Call

When you are asked to return a telephone call to a member of our staff, please note the name and extension of the person who called you. We have a large staff and it can be difficult to track down the person who called you without enough information.

After business hours, calls are answered by our emergency answering service. Please do not make routine calls after hours.

If our name appears on your caller ID, please do not return the call unless you know who on our staff was calling you.

See also:

Blood Glucose Readings
Billing & Insurance
Patient Information

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