Patient Portal Overview
We Love our Patient Portal and our patients do too! It’s a helpful resource for relaying information. As a patient at Ponce Primary Care, we ask that you utilize our Patient Portal. But first, please familiarize yourself with the best practices & policies of the Patient Portal.
Best Practices
When used appropriately, the Portal is a great tool for the following:
Communicating with our clinical staff about non-urgent issues (see below for Communication Policy)
Reviewing test results
Paying outstanding balances
Reviewing problem lists, allergies etc.
Updating insurance information
Sending questions re: billing, appointment scheduling, prior authorizations or other non-urgent administrative issues
Medical Advice on the Patient Portal
1) The portal is not for medical advice on issues for which we have not recently seen you. Even minor problems, if serious enough to warrant a question of a provider, deserve a visit. Our practice policy is that our medical advice requires a visit with one of our providers.
2) We only provide medical advice to our patients. We cannot provide medical advice or care for family members or friends who are not our patients. Please don’t use your portal account to make such requests.
3) Urgent issues should not be communicated via the portal. If you have a medical emergency, dial 911. If you have an urgent issue requiring same day care, call the office during office hours (or when absolutely necessary, contact the provider on-call after hours). Portal messages will generally be replied to within two business days, excluding weekends and holidays.
Our Communication Policy
We adhere to strict standards for how our patients treat our providers. Fortunately, we have had relatively few abusive patients over the years, but it happens and we do not tolerate it. Abusive language or threatening behavior of any type either in person, over the phone or via portal messages will result in immediate suspension of a portal account and notification that we are initiating our right to terminate our patient/provider relationship.
Requesting Medication Refills
Please contact your pharmacy to have them request medication refills via our electronic prescribing system. This is the most efficient approach for a number of reasons. Please do not submit request for refills in multiple formats (e.g. via portal, via pharmacy and via phone call) as this leads to confusion and often multiple prescriptions being sent. Ideally, patients will have enough refills provided at the time of visits to make refills in between appointments unnecessary.
