Because your times is as valuable as ours, we see patients on an appointment basis.  We feel this means less waiting, door-to-doctor.  For this to work, however, we need your cooperation.  We strongly encourage you to call before coming in, and to give as much information as possible.  This allows us to set aside enough time for you and to arrange better staffing for your specific problem(s).

 We do see "work-ins" but discourage "walk-ins".  Essentially this means, we will be glad to see you, but please call before coming in, if at all possible.  Again, this allows us to be better prepared to serve you.

Canceling Appointments:  If you are unable to keep an appointment, please call us.  This simple courtesy is much appreciated and permits time for others trying to be seen.  We will work the best we can to accommodate your schedule. 

Our Emergencies:  Unfortunately, sometimes emergencies arise and we are called to the hospital; we ask for your patience when these delays occur.  Again, we will try hard to resolve your being seen appropriately; options are to see another provider, especially if you have an acute problem, or to reschedule your appointment.   

Murphy Office:  

• Monday 8:30a-12n; 1p-8p
• Tues-Friday 8:30a-12n; 1p-4:30p

Hayesville Office: 

• Mon-Friday 8:30a-12n; 1p-4:30p

Initial appointments take more time to gather medical and nonmedical information.  We strongly prefer to have old records, either sent to us ahead of time or brought in by you at the time of your first appointment.  Remember, doctor offices and hospitals require written permission to send copies of your records to us.  You can obtain a "Record Request Form" located under New Patient Information located under Forms on this website or from our front desk.

You can also print out the other forms available and fill and bring with you to your first appointment.  This will help to save time in preparing information for your chart. 

One of the group physicians is always on call.  When you call our office after hours, on weekends, or holidays, a recorded message will direct you to speak with a registered nurse you can call (800) 668-1791 OR you may leave a message for the physician on call.  If questions arise after hours that are urgent, please call the 800# listed and the nurse can help determine if your doctor should be contacted or whether you should come to the emergency room.  In the latter case, you will usually be seen by the emergency room doctor.  We will then be contacted if consultation or admission is required. 

Non-medical questions can often be answered by the office staff.  Medical questions will be directed to our office nurse.  If she is unable to answer your question, she will consult with the physician and then she or the doctor will return your call late morning or late afternoon, sooner if an opportunity arises.  In all cases, please give the nurse as much information as possible in order to help us determine the urgency of your problem and give more complete answers.  Of course, if you have an emergency, we will make all attempts to answer immediately. 

Prescriptions for regular medications are refilled at your routine appointments.  Bring all your medications to those visits.  If you find that your medication will run out before your next appointment, call us and we will call in enough to last until then.  Please have the name, dose and pharmacy ready when you call.  Please call during regular office hourse so that your chart will be available.  Routine prescriptions will not be filled after office hours (including weekends and holidays) except in unusual circumstances.

Antibiotics are not routinely called in.  More and more germs are becoming resistant due to overuse of antibiotics, so we all need to be more careful about their use.

Narcotic medication will be filled only by your regular physician during regular office hours.  This also holds true for sedatives and other "nerve" medications.

We realize medical care can be expensive and that not everyone has help with their medical bills.  We are more than willing to work with you regarding payments.  Payment schedules can be set up.  A sliding fee scale is available for those who qualify financially.

We believe our charges are reasonable.  To help keep our costs down, please adhere to the following guidelines: 

• Please bring all insurance cards with you to the office for proof of eligibility.
• You are responsible for any deductible or co-payments at the time of service.
• We file all private and supplemental insurance policies as a courtesty but it is the patient's responsibililty to know their benefits at the time of the appointment.
• We accept assignment with Medicare, North Carolina Medicaid,  North Carolina State Health Choice for children, Tricare, and Crescent PPO.  We accept Worker's Compensation when prior approval is received in advance. 

Health insurance is a contract between the insurance company and the policy holder.  Therefore, it is the policy holder's responsibility to follow up claims to the insurance company.  If your policy has restrictions, requires precertification or second opinions, please let us know. 

You will receive a statement from us each month, if you have an outstanding balance.  An outstanding balance becomes past due after 30 days.  Balances 60 days past due fall into our delinquent category.  After 90 days, your account may be turned over to a collection agency. At that point, all future visits will be on a cash basis only, plus payment in full of your delinquent bill.  Please know that this is a difficult policy for us; but we are a business too, with bills to pay.  If you are having financial trouble, we may be able to help.  Please come by or call to discuss your account, sooner rather than later with our billing staff or office manager.

This term includes a wide range of medical problems of varying severity.  Sometimes it is difficult to determine whether to have you come to the office or go to the emergency room. If you are uncertain, please call and discuss the situation with us; we will try to help make the decision.  If you feel you have an emergency after hours, do not wait on us; seek help immediately.  We prefer that our patients use the emergency room at Murphy Medical Center since we are on staff there, but we understand that many emergencies require you to go to the nearest emergency room.  Please call 911 for emergency assistance.

We are on staff at Murphy Medical Center hospital.  This is the only hospital we staff.  We also attend at Murphy Medical Center's nursing home as well as the Clay County Care Center.