What do I look for when I select a cardiologist?
Most importantly, the cardiologist you choose should be Board Certified in Cardiovascular Disease. Consider other board certifications, awards, involvement in hospital leadership or practice leadership, professional organizations and research. Word-of-mouth is also important. Who would your friends and family recommend?
What is Phoenix magazine’s Top Doc award?
Each year Phoenix magazine surveys over 5000 Valley physicians. The surveys ask the doctors to nominate those doctors, who, in their judgment, are the best in their field and related fields. It is an honor for so many Tri-City physicians to be selected by the doctors who know them and work with them as a “Top Doc.” Finding the right physician isn’t easy. You should use this information in conjunction with other important sources, including medical boards, word-of-mouth and so on.
What is ICAEL accreditation? Why is it important?
The Intersocietal Commission For the Accreditation of Echocardiology Laboratories (ICAEL) was created "to ensure high qualtiy patient care and to promote health care by providing a means to encourage and recognize the provision of high quality Echocardiographic diagnostic evaluations by a process of voluntary accreditation." Tri-City is one of the few echocardiology laboratories that is accredited in the Phoenix metro area.
Tri-City chose to be voluntarily accredited to ensure that we provide very good care in our Echocardiology department and using ICAEL holds us to the highest national standard. Going through the accreditation process is a means by which our echocardiology laboratory staff can conduct a detailed self-evaluation and demonstrate to an independent agency clinical practices that are on par with the best laboratories in the country. For example, the process examines the qualifications of the technologists performing the examinations and the physicians interpreting the examinations and goes further to peer review the examination results and interpretations to ensure accuracy and quality. All staff and physicians associated with the echocardiology department must maintain continuing medical education requirements and submit to onging peer review.
What is ICANL accreditation? Why is it important?
The Intersocietal Commission For the Accreditation of Nuclear Laboratories certifies nuclear departments across the country to ensure high quality patient care through a process of voluntary accreditation for nuclear laboratories who want to provide very good care to the highest standards. Tri-City is one of the few nuclear laboratories that is accredited in the Phoenix metro area.
Tri-City chose to be voluntarily accreditied to ensure that we provide very good care in our nuclear department and using ICAEL holds us to the highest national standard. Going through the accreditation process is a means by which our nuclear laboratory staff can conduct a detailed self-evaluation and demonstrate to an independant agency clinical practices that are on par with the best laboratories in the country. For example, the process examines the qualifications of the technologists performing the examinations and the physicians interpreting the examinations and goes further to peer review the examination results and interpretations to ensure accuracy and quality. All staff and physicians associated with the nuclear department must maintain continuing medical education requirements and submit to onging peer review.
What is the best way to contact Tri-City? Email us using the text boxes on the Contact Us page. Contact Us is on the left side bar. Call us and use the phone tips below for best using our phone system. Use our call back option (Tip 2 below) when you can't wait and need a call back on the same day. Non-urgent voice mail is a good option for leaving a message for office staff and physicians and will be responded to within 1 business day.
Phone Tips:
1) Use our prompts. Reduce your wait time by using the prompt options offered when your call is answered by our automated attendant. The options are:
Option 1 - Hospitals and referring physicians only
Option 2 - Scheduling Needs
Option 1 - Regarding today's appointment
Option 2 - To schedule or reschedule an appointment
Option 3 - Secretary or Physician Needs
Option 4 - All other calls
Option 1 - For office hours, location and fax numbers
Option 2 - For the Medical Records Department
Option 3 - For the Billing Department
Option 4 - For Prescription Needs
Option 5 - For other non-urgent items
Non-urgent voice mail is a good option for leaving a message for office staff and physicians and will be responded to within 1 business day.
2) Use our call back option. You will be offered the callback option after one (1) minute of hold time. Please listen carefully for the following statement. "If you wish for us to hold your place in line and call you back when it is your turn, please press 1."
Option 1 - The system will verify your callback number.
Option 1 - This is the correct number to use when calling you back.
Option 2 - You wish to enter a different number for calling you back.
Enter your new callback number followed by #
The system will then ask you to enter your callback extension (if needed)
Enter the extension followed by #
Option 2 - bypass (no extension is needed)
Record a brief message followed by # to complete the callback request.
If you fail to leave a message, the system will not return your call. Any other key - Continue to wait for the next available operator.
3) Avoid high volume periods such as all day Monday and everyday from 8:30 A.M. to 10 A.M. and 12:30 P.M. to 1:30 P.M.
Why is it important to arrive 20 minutes before my appointment with my physician?
In order to run our office schedule on time we must have patients arrive at least 20 minutes before their appointment time. Before every appointment our patients must be registered and clinical data verified. We need help from our patients to run an efficient office schedule. Please help us by arriving at least 20 minutes before your appointment time.
What is Press Ganey Associates?
Tri-City uses Press Ganey to measure patient satisfaction. We want to continually improve our care and service and use this information to get better. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, Press Ganey Associates is the health care industry’s leading independent vendor of patient satisfaction measurement and improvement services. Press Ganey currently partners with Tri-City and with over 7,000 other health care practices and facilities assisting in collecting and using patient, resident, employee and physician surveys in their quality improvement initiatives.
Why are you asking me to fill out a Sleep Evaluation Form?
Our review of the cardiology literature and our own experience with patients has convinced us that treatment of sleep disorders is essential to providing high quality cardiovascular care. Tri-City Cardiology has partnered with REM Medical to ensure our patients receive evaluation and treatment in a comprehensive clinical care model for sleep disorders.
Can you recommend other health related web sites?
To access the web site click on the link of interest.
www.remmedical.com REM Medical specializes in sleep disorders
www.webmd.com WEBMD provides online health information
www.americanheart.org American Heart Association specializes in disease prevention
How do I make an appointment?
Please contact our appointment schedulers at (480) 835-6100 and press option 2.
What information will the appointment scheduler need when I call?
- Insurance information located on insurance card
- Your Primary Care Physician (PCP)
- Description of your problem
- Have you ever been treated by any other specialty physician such as a cardiologist, pulmonologist, etc...?
- Have you been treated by a Tri-City physician in an emergency room or hospital within the last 60 days?
- Were you referred to Tri-City by another physician such as your primary care physician or another treating specialist?
Which insurance companies are you affiliated with?
We accept private insurance and Medicare. As a courtesy, we bill secondary insurance carriers for our patients. We also accept MasterCard and Visa. For more information, see the Insurances section on the top navigation bar of our web site.
Do you accept assignment for Medicare?
Yes.
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