After Hours

Our practice utilizes a nurse triage service to handle our after ours calls.  If you have an urgent issue that cannot wait until our office re-opens, then call our regular office number (410-992-9339) and the call will be forwarded to our Nurse Triage Service. The service will provide the same triage information that our clinical staff accesses when the office is open, and return calls are generally made within 30-45 minutes. These skilled triagers can contact our clinicians if the need arises to provide the most specific advice required.

As is the case when the office is open, if your child's condition worsens before you receive a call back, then please make a second attempt to reach the triage service.  We fully approve the guidelines they utilize to decide when to refer our patients to seek urgent medical attention at urgent care or the emergency room. Our office is provided with a written transcript of every phone encounter the following morning.

Please save routine questions (mild illness, appointments, prescription refills) for the next business day. Also, DO NOT send urgent messsages via the patient portal after hours. We only view portal messages when our office is open.  Phone calls which are not regarding urgent medical issues are subject to be assigned a $50 charge.

We encourage you to refer to our website first, when practical, before calling the emergency number. If your urgent issue is regarding the ingestion of a substance, then please contact Poison Control directly at 1-800-222-1222

Should your after hours issue result in a prolonged direct converstion with a physician, such an encounter may be billed to insurance based on the length and the content of the call.  This will typically occur when we need to be more comprehensive during phone conversations, and we cannot have the benefit of an in person visit to obtain information that will assist in the assessment. This challenge translates to more time on the phone and a greater number of decisions that affect your child’s treatment. You will be informed when an after hours conversation meets criteria for billing,and you may be responsible for some or all of the associated insurance charge because of a co-pay, a deductible, or non-coverage. We will not submit claims for calls from parents regarding children from birth to 2 months of age.