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Patient Visits

Your time with your health provider during your office visit is an important part of your health so it’s important to be focused and prepared when you arrive at Premier. Below is some helpful information on key topics relating to general care.

Other information about appointments, phone calls, after-hours, health records and other office policies, visit Patient Resources/Office Policies.

Recommendations for your visit

Arrive early
We recommend you arrive 15 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time. First-time patients may want to arrive 20 minutes early if completing all new patient forms.

Current medication details
Bring a list of all current medication details, including dosage, frequency and pharmacy location) for you or your child.

  • Prescription drugs
  • Over-the-counter medications
  • Vitamins
  • Supplements

Immunization History
Bring a complete of you or your child’s immunization history from outside physicians, schools or workplaces.

Family Health History
Please be able to provide a complete family health history.This can help us determine if you have any health risks for certain diseases, cancers or chronic conditions. Your family history is invaluable to your preventive care needs.

Be Focused, Open and Direct
When speaking with your doctor or other clinical staff, be open, direct and descriptive in discussing your care. At times, it is hard to remain focused during a brief exam. You may wish to bring a family member to help recall specifics from the exam – instructions, health screenings, additional testing and medication changes.

Ask questions
Do not hesitate to ask the doctors and clinical staff questions or further explanation if you do not understand something or have additional concerns.

Follow-Up Visits
The doctor and other members of the clinical team will advise you if follow-up visits are needed as part of your health needs or relating to testing or procedures.

Referrals to Specialists

If your care or health condition requires additional medical attention, your doctor will recommend you to a specialist.

Premier offers our patients over 20 specialties of care “in house”. Here are some of the advantages of seeing a Premier specialist when appropriate.

  • Collaboration between your primary care physician and the specialist
  • Expedited service between Premier offices
  • Better efficiency of care
  • Health record completeness

If a needed specialist, procedure or test is not available within Premier, we will refer you to our affiliated network of physicians and facilities, the Allegheny Health Network. (UPMC patients are referred within the UPMC network)

Outpatient Procedures and Testing

When your care required additional needs beyond the exam, your primary care physician or specialist will recommend blood work, tests or other procedures and where best to get them.

  • Blood work – Blood draw services are offered on-site at all Premier locations.
  • Outpatient procedures – Premier offers many outpatient services. Visit Patient Resources/Outpatient Services for a complete list.
  • Inpatient procedures – Premier is affiliated with the Allegheny Health Network Forbes Hospital. For many inpatient needs, we have a team of surgeons and a hospitalist program to follow-up on your care.

Many of your care needs can be met within the Premier organization. Our patients will receive a better, consistent patient experience and a higher standard of care when utilizing Premier specialists and services when available.

Prescriptions and Refills

Important details about your prescription needs at Premier:

  • We use E-Prescribe for electronic submission to the retail and mail-order pharmacy locations of your choice.
  • While same-day service is common, we recommend allowing 72 hours for prescriptions to be completed.
  • Contact the pharmacy for refill needs.

For medication requests, please contact us a full week prior to exhausting the current prescription to allow processing time and prevent a lapse in your medication.

Access your private electronic health record for medication details, history, dosage and refills. For faster service, request a refill directly through MyChart.

Medical Record

As a Premier patient, you will be asked to register to use the MyChart electronic health record platform. For more information visit, Patient Resources/Electronic Health Record.

New patients, transferring from other doctors and health systems, will need to complete a medical record release form at the previous physician office enabling that staff to mail the records to Premier.

Test Results

Non-lab test results, such as radiology studies, will be sent to the ordering physician. Normal (favorable) results will be provided to you by mail. For negative (abnormal) results, the doctor or a member of your care team will contact you by phone to discuss your results. Should we be unable to reach you, we will leave a general, non-specific message requesting a return call.

Vaccinations and Flu Shots

Our primary care offices (internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics) offer all recommending immunizations in our offices.

We do offer walk-in flu clinics during flu season in our adult and pediatric primary care offices.

Recommendation: Patients may wish to check with their health insurance provider for details regarding immunization coverage for their health policy.

Deductibles and Copayments

Patients are financially responsible for deductibles and copayments. We request payment at the time of the exam or service. Cash, checks, debit cards and all major credit cards are accepted forms of payment.

Premier accepts all major insurance plans in this region.  For a current list of all participating health plans, visit Accepted Insurances.

Contact our billing office at 412-457-0184 if you have any concerns, issues or wish to discuss payment options if you are unable to pay in full.