Monday through Thursday	8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Friday	8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Saturday	8:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday	9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon, for sick patients only.

PLEASE NOTE: There are additional charges for all evening (5:45 PM or later), weekend and urgent services which most but not all insurances cover. We also ask that you arrive a few minutes early to allow time to fill out the necessary paperwork.

Sunday - 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon

Glenbrook Pediatrics is open every day with the exception of major holidays. We offer routine well visits and same day sick visits made by appointment only.

If your child is ill, please call as early as possible in the day so that we can fit your child in the schedule. We do try to reserve the early morning and late evening appointments for sick children only. If your call is urgent, please tell the receptionist immediately. IF THE CALL IS REGARDING AN EMERGENT OR LIFE THREATING SITUATION PLEASE CALL 911.

IF THE CALL IS REGARDING AN EMERGENT OR LIFE THREATING SITUATION PLEASE CALL 911.

Routine physicals or well child care is an important part of achieving and maintaining your child's optimal health. At these visits the physician assesses your child's health status and risks including: growth and development, nutrition, sleep issues, behavioral and social adjustment, safety and many other concerns. Any immunizations required are usually given at these exams. For your convenience and to be sure your needs are accommodated, we encourage you to schedule your well child visits well in advance. The busiest time for routine care is from May to August due to the high number of school, camp and sports physicals requested. Routine appointment times fill up quickly, but can be booked up to 6 months ahead.

If you are delivering at Lutheran General or Evanston; the doctor will advise you when to schedule your first visit when he/she sees you and your child in the hospital. Usually we see the child for a weight check 2 days after discharge from the hospital and for a newborn exam at about 7 days. If we did not see the child in the hospital; we would want to do a newborn exam about three days after discharge.

We see patients from birth thru 21 years of age.

Our doctors all work together and have complete confidence in each other. For that reason, if your child needs to be evaluated and the doctor you usually see is not available, please feel comfortable having any of our pediatricians examine your child. If your child's problem is not urgent, requiring same day services, the receptionist will happily find you appointment with your doctor when he or she returns.

During regular office hours, we have a phone triage nurses available to assist you. They are specially trained to answer your questions and they work closely with our pediatricians to give you the best advice possible.

No. Though our nurses are highly trained and skilled at assessing and assisting, they are not trained or legally able to diagnose patients.

Prescribing antibiotics by telephone is fraught with hazard and inaccuracy. Many conditions will not be helped by prescribing antibiotics and the only way to determine if an antibiotic is truly required is to examine your child. If you believe an antibiotic may be needed, please request an office visit.

A doctor is on call for emergencies and can be reached by pager when the office is closed by dialing 800-841-9718. Leave your name, phone number and the nature of the problem with the operator. The doctor will respond promptly. If you have not heard from a physician within 30 minutes please re-page. Please be prepared with the following information: Name of your child, his or her age, and approximate weight. Have your child near the phone, if possible, to help you answer questions. An older child may be able to tell you exactly where it hurts. Take your child's temperature before you call. If your child has a fever, write down the temperature and time you took it. Current medications and past medical problems. If your child is taking any medication, including prescription or nonprescription drugs, inhalers, supplements, vitamins, herbal products, or home remedies, please inform the pediatrician. Since the Pediatrician on call will not have access to your child's chart, please be prepared to remind him or her of any past or current conditions including medication allergies, asthma, seizures, frequent urinary tract infections etc. Have your pharmacy phone number ready. Unblock your telephone "call block," and keep phone lines open so that your pediatrician can return your call in a timely manner. Do not leave pager numbers. If you leave your cell phone number, be sure that you have your cell phone on and will be in an area where you can receive calls.

A receptionist is available during office hours to schedule an appointment. We try to reserve early morning, late evening and Sunday appointments for urgent and sick patients. If the office is closed and you wish to make an appointment for the next day, please leave a message and your call will be returned first thing in the morning.

There may be times you have to wait in our office. We make it a priority to stay on time but occasionally we are thrown off schedule by an emergent patient or by patients who arrive late and/or bring in a second ill child without telling us. Additionally, each patient is unique or may have a more complex issue. We want to be sure we are giving each patient the attention and care they require. We thank you for your patience.

We make every effort to honor all time commitments and we request that you extend the same courtesy. If you are more than 15 minutes late for a sick exam, you may have to wait for the next available appointment opening. If you are more than 15 minutes late for a scheduled physical exam appointment, we may need to reschedule the appointment for a later date.

We ask that you provide us with at least 24 hours notice if you will be unable to keep your appointment so that we can offer it to someone else. A $25.00 cancellation fee is charged ONLY if you fail to notify us (no-show) that you cannot keep your appointment or if you cancel with less than 1 hours notice.

We only send statements out when we believe a balance is owed on your account. If you owe a balance, the statement will indicate which date(s) of service the balance is for. You may owe a balance due for many reasons including co-payments, coinsurance, deductible, non-covered services, or coordination of benefits issues, etc. The exact reason your insurance company did not pay for a service can usually be found on the Explanation of Benefits (or EOB) your insurance company provided you. In some cases, it may be necessary for you to call your insurance company for clarification. Please keep in mind that our office is contractually bound with your insurance company to collect any balance the insurance company states is your responsibility.

We report all claims to the insurance company on file at the time of the visit. Therefore, it is very important that you provide us with accurate insurance information for your child at every visit. Insurance companies have strict time guidelines for claim submissions. If a claim is denied due to being past the filing deadline and filing was delayed because the correct insurance information was not provided to our office at the time of the visit, you will be held responsible for payment.

Our office participates with several different plans. Due to the vast number of insurance companies and plans available, it is necessary that you verify with your insurance company that the physicians of Glenbrook Pediatrics, S.C. are providers for your particular plan. We will not deny care to any patient due to uncertainty of coverage, but understand that you are responsible for any and all charges incurred if we are not participants on your plan.


Insurance Plans Accepted

Aetna:
Managed Choice (POSII), Elect Choice (EC), Open Choice (PPO) Open Access PPO (no HMO Products)

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois: BCBS PPO & BCBS FEP
(We do not participate in the Blue Choice or HMO products)

Beech Street: PPO/CAPP, Care PPO

Cigna: PPO, EPO, Select POS/HMO & Open Access

Coventry/First Health

Humana: Choice Care, Humana PPO

Great West PPO

Motorola

Private Health Care Systems (PHCS), Choice Care

Preferred Health Network (PHN)

Preferred Plan, Inc. PPO

United Healthcare Products (all products except HMO's)

Unicare PPO

It isn't feasible for our office to know the particular benefits of each patient's insurance policy. Every plan is unique in its coverage and benefits, even within the same insurance company. In most cases, the benefits of your policy are negotiated and determined by your employer. The only way to avoid "surprise" out-of-pocket expenses is for you to know and understand your plan's benefits.

NO! You need to call your company and provide them with the information they are requesting. Even if you have already informed them before, you will need to contact your insurance company. When you call, please make sure to request they reprocess ALL outstanding claims after your information is updated. Once your insurance company denies a claim pending receipt of this information, the balance is your responsibility and you will need to resolve the issue with your insurance provider.

Medical office visits are not typically billed on a time basis. The level of service billed is determined by several key factors including: history, examination, and medical decision making. Time only becomes a factor if more than 50% of the total time is related to counseling and/or coordination of care. Service fees are based on national averages, adjusted for our geographical area and commiserate with other practices in the area.

If you ever find yourself unable to pay your child's balance in full, we simply ask that you communicate this to our billing office in a timely manner. We are happy to set up an acceptable payment plan to assist you in resolving the balance as quickly and comfortably as possible.

If you have any questions about your bill, our billing staff is here to help. You can speak to the billing staff while in the office, phone them directly at 847-729-9806, email them at GBPbilling@comcast.net or write to the staff at the address shown on your statement. The billing office is available Monday through Friday from 8:00AM to 5:00PM.

We accept cash, check, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover card. Payments can be made in person, by mail, or by phone if using a credit card.

We hear this question often but, unfortunately, it is not a question we can answer. Most of our contracts with health plans contain language that prohibits our office from recommending one plan over another. This is in everyone's best interest, including yours. Our suggestion is to select the insurance that best meets your needs. Make sure the policy covers routine services like well child care visits and immunizations since these can be very expensive. Know what is and isn't covered and understand what your potential "out-of-pocket" expenses might be.

A co-payment or co-pay is the amount an insured person must pay for a medical expense at the time of the visit. Contractually, it must be paid before any payable insurance benefit can be made. Therefore it is due at the time of service and cannot be billed.