Appointments & Policies

Office Policies

1. All appointments must be scheduled in advanced; no walk-ins allowed. When scheduling your appointments, please provide the reason(s) for your visit so we can allow for the appropriate time needed. Complicated concerns may require additional visits for further evaluation or treatment follow up.
2. Patients are not assigned to a specific provider. You must be willing to see any provider if your requested provider is not available for the time or day that you are requesting to be seen.
   1. The provider may be out of the office or have no availability in their schedule; potentially delaying your care.
   2. Please do not become alarmed if you message one provider and another provider or staff member responds.
      1. Providers do help each other with messages when they are able to; trying to minimize any delay in your care.
      2. The messaged provider may be out of office, or the provider has delegated the task with instructions to another staff member.
3. If you need a referral, you will need an appointment with our providers.
4. Our office does not refill antibiotics or prescribe antibiotics without a formal evaluation of the illness.
5. Patients requesting a telehealth appointment must have had an in-person office visit within the previous 6 months. This service is only available for previously established patients.
   1. Patients cannot have 2 telehealth visits in a row.
   2. Some health concerns need to be evaluated in person and the provider may request that the appointment to be changed to an in-person office visit.
   3. We do have to follow state laws for telehealth care.
   4. Copays and deductibles do apply to telehealth appointments.
   5. It is your responsibility to know if your insurance covers telehealth visits.
6. Requests to complete forms or paperwork may require an office visit. FMLA forms and work accommodations for examples require a one-on-one appointment to review and complete forms.
7. Minors (under the age of 18) must come to the office with a parent (legal guardian) or written consent for treatment will be required from the parent (on file in advance of the appointment).
   1. We request that the parent be available via phone during the visit should additional questions arise.
   2. Parents need to be present for annual physicals, school physicals, and sports physicals.
8. Messages left to a provider that are asking for medical advice or treatment may result in a recommendation from the provider for an appointment.
   1. If guidance or treatment is given via phone or electronically, we may charge for a phone fee or e-visit fee. Please understand that what may seem like a simple phone call or portal message takes office time and the use of our medical knowledge and decision making.
9. We cannot consult on the concerns or prescribe medications for someone that is not an established patient.
10. Please plan your medication refills in advance; at minimal 2 business days are requested for a medication refill. There are many variables that are out of our control that can cause delays in your medication refills.
    1. If you have additional refills on your prescription, please request the refill from your pharmacy.
    2. If a specialist is prescribing a medication, please contact their office for refills.
11. We continue to perform blood draw services in the office; however, all patients will be scheduled an appointment with a provider. Many blood draws require explanation of the test results, adjustment of medications, or a more thorough evaluation of your health condition that the blood work is needed for.
12. If you are requesting to have your blood draw completed at our office with orders from a specialist that you see, please send our office a copy of the order first. You can attach a picture of the order to a message in the patient portal.
    1. There are some tests that we cannot perform or be responsible for the ordering and handling of the test.
    2. The provider will review the lab order and then our staff will contact you to schedule an appointment or advise you to go to an outpatient lab.
13. Failure to cancel your appointment PRIOR TO 24 HOURS in advance or a failure to keep your scheduled appointment will result in a $50 fee that is NOT billable to your insurance. We reserve the right to discharge you from our practice if you fail to keep your appointments on several occasions or refuse to pay these fees. Please understand, that another patient may have needed medical care during that appointment time.
14. If you are more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled appointment, we will ask you to reschedule your appointment. We may charge you a same day $50 cancellation fee. We do our best to see our patients on time, and our patients arriving on time helps keep us on schedule.
15. We all deserve to be treated with respect. We will not tolerate any vulgar language, intimidation, or verbal abuse. We understand that there may be disagreements at times, but this behavior is not productive nor acceptable and may result in discharge from the practice.

Insurance and Billing Policies

1. Please notify our staff if there has been any changes in address, phone number, insurance, or preferred pharmacy.
2. We do need to keep a copy of your driver’s license and insurance card on file. This allows us to verify and protect the insured (you) as well as access needed information from the insurance card to process your medical claims.
3. Consent forms and HIPAA acknowledgement forms need to be updated annually.
4. Please read and understand your insurance plan and coverage. Any services that are not covered by your insurance will be your responsibility.
5. If you have an HMO insurance plan, your insurance card must have one of our physicians listed as your PCP.
6. We cannot offer a discounted plan for services if you have any insurance plans due to our contracts with the insurance plans. If you have an insurance plan and decide to pay cash for a visit instead of billing your insurance, then we would charge the same fee that would be billed to your insurance.
7. If you do not have insurance, we do offer a self-pay plan for services. These services then are not reimbursable to any insurance plan as you are certifying that you do not have insurance coverage.
8. We are not in network with MediCAID; even if MediCAID is your secondary insurance. If we order any labs, imaging, or medications then MediCAID will not cover these services as the ordering provider is out of network. Depending on the service, MediCAID may become the primary plan, leading to uncovered services. For this reason, we cannot accept any of your insurances if you have MediCAID in any form. If you decide that you want to be seen by our providers, then payment for services would be received at the time that the services are rendered as listed in item #2 (no insurance or discounts will be applied to these fees).
9. Copays and self-pay services are due at the time of service. Any residual co-insurance payments are to be received in a timely manner.
   1. Prior to providing additional services to you, payment in full of total outstanding balances will be required.
   2. If a check is returned due to non-sufficient funds, there will be an additional charge of $35.
   3. If you are having difficulty paying your balance, please contact our office and we can discuss a payment plan.
   4. We do reserve the right to discharge you from our practice if your account remains unpaid and is considered delinquent. If this were to occur, we would provide medication refills for 30 days and refer you to the Lake County Health Department or an immediate care center for further care.
10. We do not get involved in custodial or financial disputes. The parent signing the consent form for treatment will be responsible for services rendered.

• ***North Suburban Family Physicians will review and update policies periodically. Last updated 1/26/2023.

 

Same day and future appointments: Please call 224-424-4624 to speak with our office staff and schedule an appointment. Appointments can also be scheduled on the patient portal up to 48 hours in advance. Call the office for  more immediate appointment needs as there may be some same day or next day appointments available.

 

In Office Appointments: We continue to see patients in person for both acute care and chronic disease concerns. We continue to perform annual and school physicals, wellness visits, immunizations, diagnostic testing and blood draws.

• We follow social distancing guidelines; we may ask for you to wait in your car if you arrive early for your appointment. 
• If you are coming in for a sick visit, please call the office on arrival and wait in your car until our staff is able to place you directly into an exam room.
• If you are not feeling well or are present for a sick visit, we will ask you to wear a mask. We will also ask any family members that are with you for the visit to also wear a mask (including children over the age of 2).
• If you present to the office for a scheduled wellness visit and are not feeling well the day of the visit, please wear a mask. Notify the staff of your illness so that the provider can wear the proper personal protective equipment before starting to interact with you.
• We want to keep everyone healthy and limit any cross exposure if possible. Patients may be in the office for a well visits, patients who are sick and their immune system is fighting a current illness may then be at risk for picking up another illness, as well as we want to protect our staff and providers from illness so that we can continue to be available to see you.

 

Telehealth/ Doxy.me Visits: We are aware that our office hours may interfere with your responsibilities at work or you physically can’t make it into the office, this is where telehealth may be an option for certain acute care and chronic care needs. Call for an appointment. This service is available only for previously established patients. 

• We use doxy.me for secure HIPAA compliant transmission of the audio/visual encounter. The provider would review and evaluate your concerns remotely and recommend treatment plans as per standards of care and guidelines.
• We do need to follow state licensing laws for telehealth. These laws are constantly changing with the pandemic and legislative bills. We may need to refer you to an acute care center in your area if you are out of state at the time of the appointment.
• Patients requesting a telehealth appointment must have had an in-person office visit within the previous 6 months.
  1. Patients cannot have 2 telehealth visits in a row.
  2. Some health concerns need to be evaluated in person and the provider may request that the appointment to be changed to an in-person office visit.
  3. Copays and deductibles do apply to telehealth appointments.
  4. It is your responsibility to know if your insurance covers telehealth visits, as this too may change.

• Provider Links: 

Dr. Thomas McGowan: http://doxy.me/nsfpmcgowan 

Scott Heelan PA: http://doxy.me/nsfpscott 

Sandi Motisi APRN: http://doxy.me/nsfpsandi 

Emily Horecny APRN: http://doxy.me/nsfpemily

 

We are NOT a COVID 19 testing site.

• Testing for COVID 19 is only completed as part of an office visit after the provider has deemed it medically necessary to test based on the events of the encounter.  

• We DO NOT test patients for travel.
  • We cannot guarantee when the send-out lab results will be available; we cannot expedite the results from the lab.   

Websites we recommend for information regarding COVID 19:
CDC.gov
idph.gov 

 

Hospital Affiliations:

Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital

NorthShore University Health System – Highland Park Hospital

 

North Suburban Family Physicians Office Hours: 

Monday: 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Tuesday: 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Wednesday: 7 a.m.- 5:30 p.m.

Thursday: 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m

Friday: 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. 

Some Saturdays: 8 a.m.- 12 p.m. (Please call to confirm) 

*We do not have office hours on Sunday. 

*Office visits are by appointment only; walk-in appointments are not accepted.

 

Address: 1252 American Way, Libertyville, IL 60048.

Get directions by clicking here.

Phone: 224-424-4624

Fax: 224-424-4631

 

Access the patient portal by clicking here.