Office Policies
Routine Appointments
Visits are by appointment only. When booking an appointment, it is important that you tell our receptionist why you are coming to see us so that she can schedule you properly. Each day we have many open appointments reserved for urgent medical problems. If you find you have an urgent medical issue, we ask that you call first thing in the morning and we should be able to accommodate you with an appointment later that day.
Becoming Rostered to one of our Physicians
We prefer to roster each patient to one of our physicians. Becoming rostered to The Clinic @ College Corner establishes a sustained and ongoing care relationship between us and you. Although you will have an assigned physician, we practice a team-concept of medicine, and all of our physicians will have access to your chart and prior results to ensure continuity. In our experience, this relationship is the most effective way to ensure a high quality of medical care, and provides for significantly better outcomes.
Our commitment to our rostered patients is to provide timely generally same-day access to high quality medical care. In return, we request that our patients use our clinic exclusively for non-emergency care, and, in particular, to avoid the use of walk-in clinics. In our experience, walk-in clinic care is suboptimal. A physician at a walk-in clinic cannot possibly know you well enough to ensure your care is properly managed. He or she will not have your history or past lab results to draw upon. In addition, walk-in clinics virtually never forward us any test results, creating a gap in your medical history.
The Ministry of Health also prefers that our patients not use walk-in clinics. Each month the Ministry notifies us which of our patients have gone to walk in clinics during the prior 30 days. We are financially penalized for this walk-in clinic use by our rostered patients to compensate the government for the unnecessary duplication of services that occurs with walk-in clinic use.
Physical Exams (aka Check-Ups)
For most healthy patients, a physical exam is not required on a yearly basis.
For patients with known health problems (diabetes, heart disease, etc.), it is prudent to see your doctor yearly for a physical exam.
For many women, the yearly physical exam is really for the purposes of having a Pap test done. For women with no history of abnormal Pap tests, an annual Pap is no longer required and the physical may also be unnecessary. For additional information, see Pap Tests below.
As a patient, you should talk to your physician about the frequency and/or necessity of physical exams, taking into account your particular health care history and needs.
Pap Tests
Cancer Care Ontario Pap test guidelines changed in early 2012. For many women now, the Pap test is no longer required every year. In fact, if you’ve never had an abnormal Pap test, the Pap test is now due once every three years. If you have had one or more irregular Pap tests, the Pap test will remain a yearly test.
Cancellations and Late Arrivals
We require 24 hours’ notice for cancelled routine appointments, and 48 hours for cancelled New Patient appointments. If you miss an appointment or cancel with insufficient notice, you will be billed the cost of the appointment.
After Hours Service
If you have an emergency and we are not here, please call 911 or go to the nearest Emergency Department. For after-hours and evening clinics, you should contact the physician on call by calling (416) 487-8096. To speak with a Telehealth Advisory Nurse after-hours, call 1-866-553-7205.
Prescription Renewals
Patient-initiated prescription renewals by phone or fax cost $40. Patients who belong to The Clinic @ College Corner Membership Plan have unlimited access to prescription renewals. We require 72 hours’ notice for all prescription renewals.
Laboratory Testing
Although you may use any lab, our office is affiliated with CML labs, and we are directly linked to their system, making the transfer of your test results to us seamless. To find a CML lab near you, please click here.
Laboratory Results
If you need to be contacted for a follow-up on lab tests, we will call you. Unless you’re told otherwise, please do not call our office for results.