908-754-0975

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  1. Frequently asked questions: 
  3. 1. Are you available on the weekends?
    1. – There is an on call doctor on nights and weekends for emergency questions. However, our office is closed on the weekends, and we are unable to schedule appointments.
    2. – Please call 908.754.0975 after hours for urgent questions. Do not send messages via portal or email as they are not monitored after hours.
  4. 2. Do I have to fill out paperwork for my initial or follow up visit? What should I bring?
    1. – We need your insurance card and ID during every visit. There are no forms to fill out.
    2. – We recommend you bring a list of your current medications including name and dosage. If you have records from PCP or prior cardiologist, please bring those as well. 
    3. – Please bring any hospital discharge paperwork if you were admitted outside of RWJ/Atlantic Health System
  5. 3. What is your policy on late arrival?
    1. – Please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to allow medical assistant to room you and update your medical history and medications list. The appointment time is the doctor time.
    2. – If you are more than 10 minutes late to your scheduled appointment you may be asked to reschedule.
  6. 4. Do I need to fast for my stress test?
    1. – If you are scheduled for a regular exercise stress test or stress echo, you do not need to fast. It will be better to eat a light meal rather than full meal before the test so you are not uncomfortable.
    2. – If you are scheduled for a nuclear stress test then please do not eat or drink starting midnight. Avoid caffeine starting 6 pm the day before. You can have as much water as you need that morning.
  7. 5. Do I need to fast for my transthoracic echo?
  8.       – No. Please check the services page for instructions for transesophageal echo. 

 Office policies

Appointments

  1. 1. Please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to allow medical assistant to room you and update your medical history and medications list. The appointment time is the doctor time. 
  2. 2. If you are more than 10 minutes late to your scheduled appointment you may be asked to reschedule. If you are running late, please call us to see if we can still accomodate you. 
  3. 3. Please call to cancel your appointment with a 48 hour notice. This allows us to schedules patients who are waiting on a list to be seen. If you do not show up for your appointment, you will be charged a $50 no show fee. 
  4. 4. Appointments must be made by phone. Please do not email the office or message the providers to schedule appointment. 
  5. 5. Please check with your insurance company if you need a referral to be seen. If you do, please obtain it from your PCP before your scheduled appointment. 

Preoperative clearance

  1. 1. If you are a new patient, please schedule your preoperative clearance visit at least 2 weeks prior to the procedure to allow time in case additional testing is warranted. 
  2. 2. If you are an existing patient, please allow your provider at least 2 weeks to fill out the form. If you have not been seen within prior 3 months, we request you schedule an appointment for the clearance. 

Post hospital discharge

  1. Please call our office on the day of your discharge to schedule your post discharge appointment.

    You need to come in person for this visit. Any change in medications can be addressed during your appointment time.

 Medication Refills

  1. We ask that you request medication refills on weekdays during business hours (8am-4pm) and give the providers 48 hours to send them in.

  2. Forms

  4.   Providers request minimum of 5 business days to complete any forms including disability forms. Please fill out patient information before dropping them off and write a note clearly stating where they need to be sent. 

  5. Insurance 

    1. We accept and are in network with most major insurances and are also able to see patients without insurance. 
    2. Please bring your insurance card for every visit. If there is a change, please let us know as soon as possible. Change in insurance may impact scheduled procedures if we have not been notified in advance.  
    4. The following insurances are out of network with our office: 
    5.   Aetna Whole Health, All Aetna Medicare Prime Products, HFI, Healthfirst, Feisinger, My Optum Health, Oscar (except Qualcare Netweok which is in network), and Cigna Local Plus  

Portal

  1. You may create an account with MyChart for RWJ. This allows you to see all the office notes as well as test results as soon as they are posted. The portal allows you to message providers for simple questions.
  2. Please do not message the provider via portal about any urgent matters. Allow 3 business days for a response.
  3. Emails and portal messages are not checked outside of business hours.

Labs

  1. We offer to draw bloodwork for our office patients at no additional charge. The bloodwork gets processed through LabCorp. We are able to send it to Quest at patient request. 
  2. Labs will be drawn either during your appointment or as walk in on Tuesdays between 8am-12pm or 1pm-3 pm. Please do not walk in for labs on Mondays or Wednesday-Friday as we will not be able to accommodate you.