Vaccinations & Immunizations
Valencia Pediatrics believe in the importance of immunizations for the well-being and protection of every child and infant and follow the standard immunization schedule of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) which is published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
We do not support not vaccinating children or alternative vaccine schedules. Parents who have or plan to space out or withhold vaccines are not a good fit for our practice. If your care philosophy differs from ours, we respectfully request that you find another pediatrician.
Parents that decline recommended but not required vaccines (i.e., flu, HPV) will be asked to sign a waiver stating that they are aware of the potential risks inherent in doing so (including, but not limited to, decreased immunity to potentially life-threatening infections).
For more information on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidelines, please click here.
Office Hour Calls
Parents and guardians are encouraged to call the office with any questions. The office staff is trained to answer most non-clinical questions, including general billing inquiries. Staff members are not able to give medical advice over the phone. If you have a medical-related inquiry regarding your child, we ask that you leave a message with one of our staff members. Your primary care physician, the provider in the office at the time, or our nurse will return your call. When leaving messages during office hours, please keep in mind that our priority is with the patients that are in the office. Therefore, your call will be returned once a provider is available.
After Office Hour Calls
If your child becomes acutely ill after office hours and you cannot wait until the next morning, we recommend referring to the Symptom Checker at the top of our website for instructions on management. Additionally, nurse triage lines are available through your insurance provider. The contact number is usually listed on the reverse of your insurance card. We have listed the most common health plans in our community and their nurse advice line below. If you are directed by your insurance provider's nurse triage line to contact your primary provider, you may call our main line and leave a message with our answering service. Please make sure to give the answering service your child's name, date of birth, and your main concern.
The on-call provider will call you to assess your child's condition and will determine whether she can handle the situation by phone or whether it will be necessary to have your child seen more urgently at the ER or Urgent Care.
If you have not received a call back from the on-call provider within an hour after leaving your message with the answering service, call the main line again. The on-call provider may not have received the message.
For privacy purposes, providers' phones do not display caller ID information, but instead, display unknown caller. We recommend disabling the feature on your phone that does not accept calls from unknown or blocked numbers, if you have that feature.
Nurse Advice Lines:
Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP): 1-888-244-4347
Molina Healthcare: 1-888-275-8750
Blue Shield of California: 1-855-424-4500
Premier Healthcare: 1-800-809-3555
St. Mary High Desert Medical Group: 1-800-809-3555
Tricare (Military Health System): 1-800-874-2273
Late Arrivals
If a patient arrives more than 15 minutes past the scheduled appointment time, the patient's appointment may be cancelled and may have to be rescheduled.
No Show Policy
Valencia Pediatrics does not charge for “no-show” appointments; however, we take them very seriously. When a patient fails to keep an appointment, we are unable to provide medical services to another child who may have needed to be seen.
Appointments that are missed, canceled, or rescheduled within 24 hours of their scheduled appointment time are considered a “no-show” visit. If three appointments are “no-showed” without notifying the practice in a 12-month period, the practice may no longer be able to continue providing pediatric health care services, be dismissed from the practice, and your insurance plan notified of the frequent missed appointments.
Insurance Plans, Benefits, and Coverage
We try our best to be familiar with your insurance coverage so that our providers can provide you with covered care. However, there are so many different insurance plans that it is not possible for our pediatricians or staff members to know the specific details of each plan. Every insurance plan may have different rules that vary from insurer to insurer and may even vary between plans of the same insurer.
Insurance companies determine what tests, drugs, and services they will or not cover based on your policy. Therefore, it is your financial responsibility as defined by the rules of your insurance company.
It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to confirm with my insurance company that Valencia Pediatrics is currently under contract with their plan or are either willing to be seen under “out of network” benefits. Valencia Pediatrics is not responsible for knowing what services your insurance covers. Parents or guardians should direct questions regarding health insurance policy coverage to their insurance company. Their contact phone number will always be on the patient’s insurance card.
Copayments, Deductibles, and Co-insurance
Parents and guardians are responsible for all copays, deductibles, co-insurance and any other non-covered services determined by their insurance plan at the time of the visit. If you have not come prepared to pay for balances or have not made arrangements with the billing staff, your child’s appointment may be rescheduled.
Delinquent Accounts
Patients with past due accounts with the practice (with no payment arrangements made) will be unable to schedule or be seen for their appointments until their past due balance has been made.
Forms Fee
You may mail, fax or drop-off any forms that you need filled. There is a $25 charge for all non-medically necessary forms filled out by the doctor or nurse. Turnaround time for all forms is 5-10 business days. Please send your forms as early as possible as we get many requests before school starts and prior to any sports seasons and summer camps. If your form does not require a doctor's signature, you may request vaccine information from our office and fill in the forms yourself.
Information Change
It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to notify our office of any change in insurance, mailing address or contact information.
