Appointments
Four Peaks Healthcare Associates is a medical clinic that specializes in complex chronic illnesses. To schedule an appointment please call (928) 773-9714, ext. 3
After speaking with our intake specialist, we will send you an email on how to register in our patient portal. All information is secure and confidential. We will also send you questionnaires that will need to be completed before we schedule your first appointment.
Care Agreement
We understand that complex illnesses cause many symptoms and that they may be severe and disabling, but they are chronic illnesses that take time, patience and trial and error to achieve improvement. Please note that our practice is small and is designed to provide chronic disease management, not acute care. If you have a new symptom(s), you should be evaluated by your primary care provider to be sure that you do not have a new, unrelated problem. If you have worsening and/or acute symptoms you are concerned about, you should call 911 or be evaluated by the nearest urgent care facility or emergency department.
Phone Calls
All calls to our clinic go through our automated call routing system. The system will instruct you on how to be connected to the appropriate staff-member. If you need to speak with your provider, our staff will take your message and pass it along, as appropriate, to your provider or will schedule you for an appointment.
Portal Messages
Our priority is to provide the best care we can to patients in our office or patients participating in telemedicine appointments. Portal and other messages are intended for non-urgent, noncomplex, and logistical matters. If you have an urgent or emergent matter, please go to the closest emergency department or urgent care. If you have a complex situation or question, please schedule a telephone or video appointment. While we do attempt to address portal messages as soon as possible, given our small office, there may be times when we cannot get to your message for 72 hours or even longer, especially over weekends or holidays or if there is a staff or provider absence.
Prior Authorizations
There are no FDA-approved treatments for ME/CFS, long COVID, mast cell activation syndrome, or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and these conditions are poorly understood by insurance companies. As a result, insurance companies often request extensive and time-consuming documentation to consider approval of many of the treatments used for these conditions. Due to the high volume of requests, we do not generally perform prior authorizations for any medications, laboratory tests, procedures, imaging, or other care. Most medications that we prescribe are covered by most insurances. For those that are not, we highly encourage the use of www.GoodRx.com They offer discount coupons that can significantly lower the cost of your medications.
Forms
Forms that can be completed by staff and signed by a provider will be completed free of charge, e.g., handicap parking or simple work or school excuse forms. We recommend asking your primary care physician to complete disability, detailed school or work forms, public service requests, FMLA forms, etc.
Laboratory, Radiology, and Other Procedures
We do not guarantee that recommended laboratory studies or procedures will be reimbursed by your insurance company. It is your responsibility to ensure that laboratory tests, procedures or other tests ordered by Four Peaks Healthcare Associates are covered by your insurance policy prior to these studies being completed.
Prescription Requests and Refills
If you are requesting a prescription for a medication that we have not previously prescribed, an appointment with your provider is required.
If you are requesting a refill of a medication that we prescribed for you, please contact your pharmacy to request the refill. They will electronically send us the medication refill request. This written process helps to ensure that there is no miscommunication regarding your medications. We recommend that you call your pharmacy at least one week ahead of time to ensure that you don’t run out of medication.
If you have had a change in pharmacy or need us to provide you with a written prescription, please call or send a patient portal message to Peaches or Jodi. These requests will be completed within 2-3 business days.
If you have an appointment to discuss your medications, please update your existing patient demographics questionnaire to reflect any changes in your medications and/or supplements. You only need to update any changes and do not need to add medications that were previously listed. It is important that we have an up-to-date list of all medications and supplements that you are taking.
Four Peaks Healthcare Associates specializes in the non-opiate treatment of complex chronic illnesses does not prescribe narcotics. We access Arizona’s Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program to screen all new and existing patients.
Cancellation and Missed Appointment Policy
If you need to cancel a first or second appointment, you are required to give us 72-hour notice (three business days). If you need to cancel a regular follow up appointment, you are required to give us 48-hour notice (two business days). If you do not provide proper notice prior to cancelling, you will be charged a late cancellation fee.
If a new patient fails to show for his/her first visit without appropriate notification, we may not accept the patient into the practice.
If you are an established patient and fail to show for an appointment without notification, and the cancellation was not due to a medical emergency, you will be charged a missed (no-show) appointment fee. For established patients, the limit for missed (no-show) appointments is two. After two missed appointments, you risk being discharged from the practice.
Appointments are considered missed (no-show) at 10 minutes past the scheduled appointment time.
Late cancellation or missed (no-show) appointment fees are as follows:
- First or second appointments that are missed or canceled without 72-hour (three business days) notice will incur a $500.00 fee.
- Regular follow up appointments that are missed or cancelled without 48-hour (two business days) notice will incur a $150.00 fee.
These charges will not be billed to your insurance provider. No new appointments will be scheduled until the balance due is paid in full.
Payment Method
We accept credit/debit card payments, including HSA or FSA card payments. You can securely enter your card information on the billing page of the patient portal, or by calling Peaches or Jodi.
Full payment is expected at the time of service. If you are experiencing financial difficulties and need to make special payment arrangements, please contact our office.
If you have questions about these policies, please contact our office at (928) 773-9714.