Our Philosophy

Our vaccine policy follows the schedule outlined by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics. We vaccinate our own children on schedule and expect the same of our patients. We are open to splitting one month’s vaccines over two visits, if that is your family’s preference.

We work hard to not overuse antibiotics. We educate families on appropriate use of antibiotics, but follow evidence-based guidelines and don’t automatically treat ear pain or a green snotty nose with antibiotics. We do not routinely call in antibiotics over the phone as we do not believe that is good medicine. When we believe antibiotics are appropriate treatment, we prescribe them.

We work hard to provide comprehensive medical care and serve as your medical home. To that end, we want the best for your children and ask you to contact our office FIRST before seeking specialty care or heading to Urgent Care.

As your medical home, we want you to contact our office to discuss care plans before scheduling an appointment with a specialist. We want to be involved in either providing care in our office where appropriate, or referring you to the most appropriate specialist and helping coordinate your care. Whenever you do see a specialist, we ask that you request a report be sent directly to our office so we can coordinate all of your care.

Please read our financial policy for more information regarding insurance.

Our office contracts with an offsite company who handles our billing. For questions about your statement or the balance owed, please contact :

Orange County Medical Billing at 714-895-5614.

We accept most PPO insurance plans including Blue Shield, Blue Cross, Cigna, United Healthcare, Aetna, Screen Actors Guild, Director’s Guild & Writer’s Guild. HMO plans must be issued through the Cedars-Sinai Health Associates network and one of our doctors must be assigned to your child as PCP (Primary Care Provider.)

It is your responsibility to verify our office's participation in your network with your insurance carrier.

Your insurance policy is a contract between you and your insurance company, whether an individual or a group plan through your employer. Our office cannot know the details and which services are covered by your specific plan. If you have questions regarding which services are covered, how many of certain types of visits (such as well care) are covered in a calendar year, or how much your responsibility will be for a certain service, please check with your insurer. It is also important to be aware of which other contracted facilities your insurance participates with for lab, radiology, urgent care, emergency room visits, or hospitalization, so that in an urgent situation you are seen at the appropriate location.

We also ask that you please bring your insurance card to each visit. Your insurance card has the information we need to collect co-payments, submit claims, send lab work to outside labs, etc.

We expect timely payment of your portion of the bill for caring for your child and accept checks or credit card payment. 

For acute care, call the office to speak with triage staff, who will listen to your concerns and schedule an appointment for you. Sometimes an appointment may not be needed, and staff will advise you regarding your issue, or check with the physician and call you back.

If our nurse is on with another caller, you will be asked to leave a message and you will receive a return call.

For well visits, call our routine appointment line.  Well visits should be scheduled 1-2 months in advance. 

Our practice makes every effort to run on time with appointments, as we believe everyone’s time is equally valuable.

As a courtesy, we will remind you of your upcoming appointments via text message.

We ask that you arrive on time for your scheduled appointment.  We understand sometimes things happen beyond your control that may cause you to be late. However, we reserve the right to ask you to reschedule if you arrive late for your appointment.

Missed Appointments: Broken appointments represent a cost to us, to you, and to other patients who could have been seen in the time set aside for you. We reserve the right to charge a fee for canceled or missed appointments. We request 24 hours notice for cancellation of appointments.

A fee of $75 will be charged for missed appointments. 

We make every effort to meet the needs of our patients, offering both routine well visits and sick visit appointments.

To ensure we provide the most efficient care to all of our patients, we do not offer walk-in appointments.  Please call our office so that we may give you an appointment time.   

Please familiarize yourself with our office hours to see if they work for your family.

We have a physician on call 24/7/365. When our office is closed overnight and you have an urgent issue that cannot wait until morning, you can call our main number and the provider on-call will give you advice regarding your child's problem.

You may wish to check the "Is Your Child Sick?" section of our website for helpful information before using this service. Read more about After Hours Care.

Our practice prides itself on efficiency through use of technology. You will be encouraged to consult our website, and effectively use automated appointment reminders. 

This is a fee that reimburses the practice for all "non-covered" services such as completing daycare/school/camp/sports forms, return to school and PE excuse notices, letters and reports, providing copies of immunization records, and offering office hours on Saturdays and many school holidays.

The fees are as follows and payable each year on October 1st.

• Families with one child: $250/year
• Families with two children: $300/year
• Families with three or more children: $350/year

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our office manager, Melissa Tatum at 310-273-9533.