Email Policy
Email can be a great communication tool, and we welcome your email messages. However, please consider the following guidelines. These guidelines may seem inconvenient, but they help us protect the patient's confidentiality.
The Communication Is Not Guaranteed
- Please do not use email for urgent matters. If you need to contact someone immediately, please call (515) 244-7229.
- Pediatric & Adult Allergy, P.C. will acknowledge receiving your message within one business day. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within one business day, please assume that we did not receive your message.
- Please acknowledge the responses you receive from Pediatric & Adult Allergy, P.C. If we do not hear back from you within 2 business days, we will assume you did not receive the message. Obviously, you do not need to acknowledge receiving an acknowledgement from our office.
The Communication Has Limited Confidentiality
- Please be aware that the following people have potential access (whether legal or illegal) to email communication between you and our office.
- your internet service provider
- our internet service provider
- your employer (if you are sending the email from work)
- one of your co-workers
- non-medical staff at Pediatric & Adult Allergy who answer and route your messages
- The email communication may become part of your medical record, either in electronic or printed format.
Information To Include In Your Message
- Please include at the front of your subject line the category of your email message to help our office route the message to the appropriate person. Please use categories like insurance, billing, prescription, etc…
- In the body of the message, please include the patient's full name and some other identifier (date of birth, account number, social security number, address, etc…).
- If you are not the patient, please give us your full name.
- Please let us know if you want an answer by email, by phone, by fax, or by mail.
Privacy Of Email Address
- Your email address will only be used by our office.
- We will never give out or sell your email address to a third party.
- If we decide to email something like an electronic newsletter, we will ask your permission first before adding your email address to the list.
Acceptable Uses Of Email
| Acceptable | Unacceptable |
|---|---|
| billing information | request for a medical consultation or diagnosis via email |
| general office information (phone and fax numbers, address, hours) | medical records (we need a signed release) |
| appointments | highly confidential subjects (HIV, drugs, alcohol) |