After hours coverage

[Attending1985]

For people with pp who accept insurance what are your responsibilities for out of appointment coverage for patients. I was filling out some credentialing paperwork and it asked this about after hours and emergencies. I would like to do pp but don’t want you burden of 24/7 patient coverage.

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[Ironspy]

I spell it out in my intake paperwork. Urgent issues are handled within 1-2 business days. Med refills are typically in appts but if needed btwn take up to 3 business days. My actual response time is typically Faster but that’s the expectation.

Emergencies go to the nearest ED or call 911. I don’t take calls btwn appts

 

[allantois]

“Patients will be directed to 911/ED”

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

This has also come up before but if you take insurance, most insurance companies have it in their contracts that you need some sort of 24/7 coverage. Our group has an after hours answering service but actually get calls very rarely (now I’m gonna jinx myself). Like I can count on one hand the number of times a year I get called.

If you condition your patients that you’re not going to generally get back to them right away about everything and remind people at risk of crisis about crisis/emergency numbers, you can head off most of that.

Some people just have after hours answering machines that go nowhere and just tell people to go to the ED for an emergency, doubt you’d actually get in trouble for it but could be in violation of your insurance contract.