Office Information

OFFICE HOURS

We have COMPLETELY SEPARATE Well and Sick sides of the building (separate entrances and offices). Please be sure to be clear regarding the nature of your visit so you are routed accordingly

Mon: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Tue:  8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Wed: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Thu: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Fri:   8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Sat:  9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Sun: Closed

After Hours

We do not use an answering service, or take messages.  OUR Doctors are on call 24 hours a day when the office is closed for EMERGENCY MEDICAL QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS. Please save routine questions (mild illness, appointments, prescription refills, school or camp forms) for the morning.

Emergencies

Call 911 for any life threatening emergencies for which your child might require resuscitation (for example, your child is not breathing, is choking, is unconscious, having a seizure, or is bleeding severely). In the event of a severe emergency situation, or one in which you are in doubt, go immediately to the emergency room of the nearest hospital and ask them to contact our office. If the situation is not severe, please call our office first for instructions.

We offer numerous services and courtesies aimed to make your visit as simple as possible. 

We provide the following services:

  • Handicap accessible and stroller friendly

  • Completely separate sick and well spaces including separate entrances, exam rooms, common areas, and labs

  • A water cooler is provided for drinking water

  • Medical records are kept electronically using state of the art technology

  • Participation in NYSIIS (New York State Immunization Registry)

  • Breastfeeding support and guidance are provided. Our physicians are Board Certified and have extensive experience helping mothers who have chosen to nurse. They can observe you nursing the baby and help troubleshoot any problems you may be experiencing.

  • Participation in e-prescribing, a system that electronically sends your prescriptions to the pharmacy, lessening wait times in the pharmacy.

  • Our practice uses an automated vision screening technology which is a rapid and highly reliable method that aids in the detection of the most common treatable sight threatening conditions in children such as: refractive errors (nearsightedness, farsightedness, unequal power & astigmatism), amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (crossed eyes) and media opacities (cataracts). These screenings are done at 12 months, 2 years old, 3 years old, 4 years old and 5 years old at their well exams, or if there is a vision concern at any other visit. Standard eye chart vision exams are done after the age.

  • State of the art hearing screening

Lactation Consultation

While many offices offer a lactation consultant, many of our physicians (and one nurse) are registered lactation consultants. As a result, these services are included within our regular newborn care. As International Board Certified Lactation Consultants and NYS Registered Lactation Consultants, we offer Lactation Consultations for families who have already chosen us as their child's Pediatrician.    In most cases, we are able to bill the insurance company for these services.  At this time, we do not provide Lactation Consultations for families who are not part of the practice.

onsite nursing staff and blood draws

Many pediatric offices send patients out to an outside lab to draw blood on children.  Our staff includes numerous Registered and Practical Nurses, all with extensive experience and skill in drawing blood for laboratory tests.  We are highly skilled in drawing blood from newborns to adults.  There is no need to book an appointment and travel for another appointments.

Office Forms

Well Visits

We see children from birth through 21 years of age. It is important for your child's health and well-being to be seen frequently for "check-ups" or preventative medicine visits. We see babies very frequently in the early stages of life so that we can answer parental questions, monitor the child's growth and development very closely, and to space out the immunizations.
Our office schedule for such visits is:

  • Newborns: Upon delivery, you will be seen by the hospitalist in the hospital and visit us in the office for your first and all subsequent visits.

  • First month-several visits based on a case to case basis

  • One Month

  • Two Months

  • Three Months

  • Four Months

  • Five Months

  • Six Months

  • Nine Months

  • One Year Old (Please schedule after the first birthday)

  • Fifteen Months

  • Eighteen Months

  • Two Years Old

  • 2 1/2 Years Old

  • Yearly ages 3 and up

Sick Visits

We make every effort to see sick children on the day that you call us. On weekdays, appointments are scheduled throughout the day- please call ahead, preferably in the morning, to minimize wait times. On Saturdays, please call by 10 A.M. to speak with our Doctors.

If you have a non-severe medical emergency during office hours, we will do our best to see your child immediately, or if necessary, to refer you to the proper facility.

Please schedule appointments for all siblings when you call to minimize wait times. We may not be able to see an unscheduled sick sibling immediately if scheduled patients are waiting to be seen.

school and camp forms


**IMPORTANT - If you child is due for their wellness visit, we CANNOT complete forms until they are seen for their check-up.  If you think your child may be due for their visit, PLEASE call ASAP to make their appointment so we can accommodate your schedule needs. If you wait until we are inundated with forms, it will take us longer to complete and return them.**

  • Forms can be expected to be completed in up to 7 business days.  Many practices charge for forms to be completed – we do not

  • If you need your forms quicker than 7 business days, there is a $20 rush fee

  • Forms can be submitted by:

  • Forms can be received back to you by:

    • Patient Portal, this is the best and most efficient means. Once the forms are completed, they are uploaded to the patient portal. You can access them immediately and print or send from your personal computer!!

    • Picking them up in person

    • By Fax

    • By Mail – please include a self-addressed stamped envelope

    • DUE TO HIPPA LAWS, FORMS CANNOT BE SENT BACK VIA E-MAIL

Please understand, every form is reviewed and then signed by one of our physicians – it is very time consuming.  This process has been developed so we can effectively manage the high volume of forms that we receive. 

Parking

Parking is behind the building. The correct parking lot is the one on a decline and in the garage. There are an ample number of RESERVED parking spaces in the garage and adjacent to the entrance of the office, which is the door to the left in the back of the building. Signs clearly mark the reserved parking spaces, as well as the entrance to the office. This allows one to safely load and unload their children away from street traffic.

Public Transportation

Several MTA buses travel close to the office. The N24 stops only a 1-2 minute walk from the office on Jericho Turnpike.
Maps and Schedule Information
Several other bus lines travel very close to the office at the Mineola Bus Terminal: N22, N23, N24, N40, N41, N78 and N79. The office is also very close to the Mineola Station of the Long Island Railroad. For travel info please visit www.mta.info.

Office Policies

Well Visit Policy

Regular wellness visits are critical to a child’s development and wellness. Patients who continually no show or refuse to have regularly wellness visits may be subject to dismissal from the practice.

lab policy

Happy and Healthy Pediatrics is committed to getting important medical information to you as quickly as possible. As such, lab results will be sent to your portal account as soon as we receive them in our office.

Please realize that our providers review lab results periodically throughout the workday and prioritize results that are significantly abnormal or worrisome. In addition, providers may be out of the office and a colleague may review labs for concerns but leave the results for the ordering provider to discuss with you. We want to make sure that the ordering provider can interpret the results in the context of your child and the reasons for ordering the test. IN addition, they will want to be sure that they direct you toward appropriate follow-up.

Our practice policy is to communicate with families regarding lab results within 5 business days. If your results are normal or require minimal intervention (such as a finding of a virus that causes the common cold or a low vitamin D level), we will send you a message on the portal. If the results are abnormal, require follow-up or additional information, we will reach out to you by phone.

Rest assured, that significantly abnormal results are communicated to our office via phone
from the lab and as soon as we are aware, we will reach out to you.

You may see some "abnormal results” that have no clinical meaning, and often are because
results for children are different than for adults. Please be patient while we process lab results
in our office. If you have significant concerns or questions, please contact the practice during normal business hours

Medication Refill Policy

Medication management is a critical component of pediatric medicine.  Many medicines are prescribed and routinely refilled.  There are a number of medications, however, that need regular monitoring and patient follow up to ensure proper dosing, efficacy, side effect management, and general safety.  In an effort to properly manage patients with these types of medications, we require medication check follow up visit to be scheduled and completed every three months.  This is for PATIENT MONITORING AND SAFETY and is standard protocol across pediatric practices.

The medication types (not brand specific) that require follow up visits every three months are:

·         ADD/ADHD

·         Asthma

·         Oral Contraceptives

If you think you/your child will need one of these medications and has not been seen in the past three months, please call the office.  These visits can be completed in person or via telemedicine.  If you have any questions, please call the office.

telephone Billing Policy

COVID-19 has changed many things about how we at Happy and Healthy Pediatrics do pediatric medicine, and a lot of ways insurance companies have changed their policies.  One great example of this, is we are providing  a lot more medical care than we used to virtually.  We have telemedicine appointments available during our normal business hours, but as you know we are available by phone when the office is closed.  If telemedicine is not available because the office is closed, or the parent is refusing the telemedicine appointment and prefers just to speak to the doctor, we are now obligated through our contracts with the insurance companies to bill any phone call exceeding 5 minutes in length.

Effective April 16, 2020 we began charging your insurance for doctor calls exceeding 5 minutes per day.  Brief calls taking less than these thresholds will remain complimentary.   Whether you have a cost share is determined by your insurance plan and policy.   If you have questions about our policy, please contact our billing office at info@happyandhealthypediatrics.com.

Walk-In Policy

Our office does not accept walk-ins. We appreciate you calling ahead to make appointments for your child.

Payment policy

Please be advised that your co-pay is due at the time of your appointment. A $20 fee will be charged if you cannot meet this criteria. At this point, our office does accept cash, checks and credit cards. You can also pay via our patient portal or pay online.  Please call if you have any questions.

Divorce Policy

We believe that divorce, separation and custody agreements should not enter into a child’s medical treatment. The parent who is requesting the medical treatment is individual responsible for the payment of the medical bills. We are not a party to your divorce agreement; we will collect co-pays and deductibles for the attending parent.

“Joint custody” means that each parent has equal access to the child’s medical record. Without a court order, we will not stop either parent from looking at their child’s chart or obtaining their child’s test results. In the circumstance of joint custody, we will not call the other parent for consent prior to treatment or to inform the non present parent of the assessment and/or plan of care if any. Again, we will discuss with the accompanying parent, information pertinent to the child’s history and/or present exam. It is then the responsibility of the parents to communicate with each other.

We reserve the right to charge an administrative fee for copying records should the requests become excessive.

Should issued between the parents become disruptive to our medical practice, we reserve the right to discharge a family from our care and responsibility

IMPORTANT - BEGINING 8/17/22, WE WILL NO LONGER BE SEEING PATIENTS OLDER THAN 21 YEARS OF AGE

Please see the personal note below from Dr. Saunders.

To: “Older” patients of mine

I know that I’ve always said that you could continue to see me until you turn 30, but I guess I never took my own lifespan in this practice into account!

I will be reducing (NOT ELIMINATING) my hours at Happy and Healthy Pediatrics and will therefore not be as accessible as I have been in the past.  As a result, I need to cut back on my patient roster.  I am therefore asking those of you who are 22 and over to start “transitioning” to adult doctors (internists, family practice doctors, gynecologists etc.)

I am happy to provide you with names of excellent practitioners who enjoy caring for young adults, or you can simply call the number on the back of your insurance card for a list of providers in your area. Either way, you will need to verify that they accept your insurance prior to your first visit at their office.

I will continue to be accessible and provide care for 90 days from the date of this letter and after that your status in our system will be marked as inactive. Our front staff will be happy to forward your records once requested - you can use the record release form on our website: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5528765de4b037749ced9985/t/5d7ff3794c34bc48adc7389c/1568666489331/Medical+Release+Form.pdf. You can also call the office for assistance (516) 216-5910

Please know that I wish all of you the very best.  It has been my absolute pleasure and privilege to watch you mature over the years into happy and healthy adults.

Most fondly,

Debbie Saunders