About CMSA
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Patient Information

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Choosing an office
Making an appointment
Your first visit
Check-In/Check-Out
Staying On Schedule
Accompanying Family Members
Treating Minors
Smoking
Mobile Telephone Use
Weapons
Records Release

Billing & Insurance Information
Calling Our Offices
Your Health Care Team

Welcome to Centre Medical and Surgical Associates, P.C. where our goal is to provide high quality, comprehensive medical care and service to our patients throughout their lives. We sincerely appreciate your decision to select us as your health care provider. This is a responsibility we take very seriously.

Because the finest care is achieved with the patient's full participation, this information is intended to answer your general questions and provide useful information so that you can make them most of our services.

We want your visits to our offices to be pleasant, comfortable, and efficient. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call, drop me a note, or schedule an appointment for a brief chat. At CMSA, your health and medical care are our top priorities.

John J. McQueary
Chief Executive Officer and Administrative Director
Phone (814) 234-8800
1850 East Park Avenue
State College, PA 16803

Choosing an office

CMSA provides medical services in State College, Boalsburg, Bellefonte, and Huntingdon.

If you are seeking primary care for an adult member of your family, you may contact either our Medicine State College or Medicine Bellefonte, whichever is more convenient for you. Please be aware, however, that you may have a shorter wait for an appointment in our Bellefonte office.

If you are seeking specialty care for an adult, contact Medicine State College. See our "Services" page for a complete listing. Certain specialists do require that you have been previously diagnosed with an illness that requires their specialty care. Also, your insurance plan may require you to obtain authorization from your primary care provider before seeing a specialist.

Women seeking gynecological or obstetric care should contact Obstetrics & Gynecology.

If you are seeking primary care for your child, Pediatrics provides services in both their State College [Boalsburg] office and Bellefonte office.

For general, vascular, neurosurgery, or oncology surgery, contact our department of Surgery.

Our Huntingdon office provides oncology-chemotherapy services.

Making an appointment

CMSA physicians are accepting new patients in all departments, but you may have to wait several months for a particular specialty or physician. We will try to see you as soon as possible, particularly if you are experiencing acute symptoms.

Certain specialists require a previous diagnosis with an illness in their specialty. Also, your insurance plan may require that you obtain a referral from your primary care provider before seeing a specialist.

Call the office where you wish to be seen to schedule an appointment. Explain your needs to our scheduler, who is trained to answer your questions. We will schedule you with the physician of your choice or the physician best suited to your particular medical problem. For new Ob/Gyn patients, you will be scheduled with the first available physician.

CMSA offices are closed on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Friday, and Christmas Day. We remain open during inclement weather unless the roads are closed by order of the state or there is a power failure in our building.

Your first visit

To prepare for your first visit, your CMSA physician must review your previous medical records. Please arrange to have these forwarded to our office from your current health care provider, and mail or bring to us any records you have at home before your first visit. Click here for a release form to give to your current provider.

In some cases, we will send you a medical history questionnaire and patient registration form. Please fill out these forms and return them to us prior to your first appointment. If your appointment is less than one week away, simply bring the completed forms and medical records with you. If we do not have the necessary records before your visit, you may have to reschedule your appointment.

Because we take the confidential nature of your health information very seriously, we will give you our Notice of Privacy Practices. It describes how we may use your health information and outlines your privacy rights under HIPAA, a federal regulation governing patient privacy. We will ask you to sign an acknowledgment that you have received this notice. For minor patients, a parent or guardian must sign one acknowledgment for each child. Only individuals given permission on the form may access your health information such as test results or copies of records.

We ask that you arrive at least 20 minutes early for your first visit to complete patient registration. Please bring your insurance card with you.

If you wish to have records from our office forwarded to a physician who referred you to us, please have his or her complete name, address, phone and fax numbers.

Your first appointment will be more lengthy and costly than subsequent visits. We need to get to know you better and understand your health status. This requires extra time and work for many members of our staff to prepare your new medical record and computer registration.

On this first visit, we will establish your baseline health profile which will serve as the foundation for a comprehensive care plan. Accordingly, your physician will need a complete medical history involving questions about your health in the past, your family, your habits, and your work environment. Then, in most cases, the doctor will conduct a thorough physical examination and discuss your health concerns with you. All of this takes time, so be prepared for a first appointment lasting about 30 minutes to an hour.

Check-In/Check-Out

You will check-in with the receptionist upon arrival at our office. Be sure to notify us of any changes in your name, address, telephone number, employer, or insurance information. When you receive a new insurance card, please show it to our receptionist. You must also bring any referral forms required by your insurance plan.

At the end of your visit, stop at the check-out desk to pay for services and schedule your next appointment. See Billing & Insurance.

Staying on Schedule

We try to stay on schedule as closely as possible, but many factors can disrupt the day. When we are running behind by more than 30 minutes, we will let you know so that you may reschedule if you choose. You can help us to keep our physicians running on schedule by doing the following:

• Please arrive with enough time to check-in before your scheduled appointment time. If you are late, we cannot promise that you will be seen that day, however we will make every effort to fit you in.

• Don't ask your provider to see another family member during your visit. We have allowed only enough time for one patient. If we fit in a second patient, you will incur a separate charge. To ensure that the doctor has enough time with each patient, schedule all office visits individually and ahead of time through the appointment staff.

• When you must cancel an appointment, notify us a soon as possible so that we may schedule another patient who is waiting to be seen. We prefer at least 24 hours notice. In some offices you may leave a message for an appointment secretary rather than waiting on the telephone. If you fail to keep an appointment without notifying our office two or more times, we may ask you to seek medical care elsewhere.

Accompanying Family Members

For adult patients, your appointment is generally a private meeting between you and your physician.Your family is welcome to wait in the waiting room or in the lobby, but please do not leave small children unattended.

For obstetrical care, the immediate family is welcome to accompany the expectant mother.

While receiving chemotherapy, each patient may have one visitor at a time, and this visitor must be at least 16 year of age.

Treating Minors

In most cases patients under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for the first visit to sign an authorization for services. This prior authorization will be needed if a parent is unable to accompany a child on a subsequent visit.

No Smoking, Please

Smoking is not permitted on our premises.

Mobile Telephone Use

The use of mobile (i.e. wireless or cellular) telephones has become so prevalent that it is often disruptive to our office operations. There is also some debate as to whether wireless telephones may effect the function of medical equipment.

Please limit the use of mobile telephones while visiting our offices:
• turn off your phone or set the ring to vibrate
• keep your conversations brief and low
• do not answer or make calls while interacting with the physicians and staff.

Feel free to use your mobile telephone in the lobby and outside the building. For your convenience, a courtesy telephone for local calls is available in most offices.

Weapons

Weapons of any kind are not permitted on our premises.

Records Release

Patients may request copies of their medical records by sending a completed medical records release form to the office where you are seen. To expedite processing, complete all sections of the form including:

• initial each of the 4 questions about sensitive health information.
• Specify "Information Requested." We have a per-page fee for records copying, so request only what you need. For example, "2008 labs", "Dr. Dranov visits", or "cardiology only."
• Sign the form and have it witnessed.

If we refer you to another physician, we will copy your records and forward them without charge.