About

About Doctor Wilson

Who we are:

*Please remember our names if you speak to us on the phone, so if you have any questions later you can speak to the person who was helping you*.

About the Office

The MD/PA Relationship in this office is as follows: We are both here daily so you can have access to care daily. We communicate about all patients. I review Cris’ chart notes and prescriptions. We try to be sensitive to your preference of providers, but for same day problems it is possible you will be asked to see who ever is available. Thanks in advance for your flexibility.

Medicine is a precise science (as well as a healing art), so please, bring written numbers of blood pressures and blood sugars and medicines taken with their doses (you can also just bring the bottles with you). Please make us aware of ALL the chemicals you take (including over the counter, once in a while and herbs/vitamins). Don’t forget eye drops, oxygen, sleeping pills, etc.

I try to have a system!!! Certain medical conditions require ongoing surveillance of the condition and their medicines. The goal is: when you are running out of a regularly taken medicine (birth control, allergy pills) it means you are due for an appointment. At that appointment you will get the new prescription. If you need regular labs we should give the next lab order at that visit too. We do send the order over to the lab but you’re guaranteed a shorter wait if you can just hand them the order slip.

About Our Services

Conditions we monitor:

Please consider having an annual physical. There are health care screening guidelines that specialists (like gynecologists) don’t always observe-they are thinking in their specialty and not generally. The annual physical is a long visit and gives us a chance to see the whole picture and do more educating.

Types of visits we offer:

15 minute appointment: simple single problem.
30 minute appointment: several problems, or a gynecologic exam.
60 minute appointment: annual physical.
45 minute appointment: DEXA scan.

Cris and I want to have enough time to address your concerns. If you know you need more time, please ask. Also, the general philosophy on time in my office is: your time is important and it’s disrespectful of us to be late. We will TRY our best to be on time. Occasionally people are sad or very ill and it’s insensitive of us to rush the visit. Please try to understand-someday it could be you needing extra time at a visit.

I appreciate you being seen once a year for a short visit even if you are healthy and get your primary care somewhere else (for instance, the gynecologist). The reasons are: if you need me on a Saturday, it helps me to have been in touch during the year so I know what your current medical and other issues are, Cris and I can almost always add something to your medical treatment whether it’s education or health care maintenance. Being a patient in this office gives you the privilege of getting personal care from someone who knows and cares about you EVERYDAY of the year.

How do we give test results?

My office operates on the premise that you need to know all your test results and that you are the check on the system. Once in a while we order a test and don’t get the results. If you don’t get told them for us, please call to check. Please have my name put on all tests you have done (if the orthopedist orders an x-ray, have them send me a copy). If I am not listed as the ordering doctor I will not call you with the results. Once in a while something happens in your medical life and I don’t know about it. Please have the emergency room call me if you have a visit there. Please let me know if you are having surgery. And please know that if we’re not in touch and you need support, we may not know what’s happening.

Please make an appointment to review your labs and x-rays. It leaves less margin for not getting you the results if you schedule the follow-up before leaving the office (again, I don’t want you to miss getting your results). X-rays are available within 5 days of the test. If we don’t schedule the test for you, please let us know when it will be done so we can be on the lookout for the results (like an MRI) and plan to see you as soon as the results are available. Lab results are usually ready within 3 days of the test. Cultures take 3 days for results.

What’s happening at a visit?

A lot happens at a visit. People are sometimes afraid or feel lousy. We are trying to figure out your goal-is it treatment (make the problem stop) or reassurance? Or are you here because you have a difficult family or emotional problem?

Cris and I want to be a part of your life for a long time and are happy to share what’s going on with you-please feel free to be honest about your concerns.

What we try to do:

Find out the goal, be sure what medicines you’re taking, make a list of most probable diagnoses, make a plan. You’re an equal partner in this plan. We are your consultant and educator. If you don’t want to do a plan or disagree or are scared or feel you can’t afford it, the visit is your time to say that. We will try to negotiate a safe plan. Sometimes it is O.K. to just wait and see what happens. Some plans depend on what happens over time-for instance, you injured your knee, we get an x-ray just to see there’s no significant injury. If you’re in pain we may offer an anti-inflammatory (sometime’s you should take this cure to the problem, other times it’s just for pain relief in which case you could decline it). We wait-see if it gets better. If it doesn’t you come back, we reassess-see in person if your knee has a new problem. Offer physical therapy. Think about other diagnostic tools (an MRI), talk about seeing the orthopedist. Here’s the point: the plan is step wise- if you aren’t getting better, come back sooner.

Prescriptions:

Some general tips: if you have a prescription for 365 pills and want to pay for them in cash, you can do that. The reason you have to “refill” your prescription monthly is an insurance regulation. You can also ask for fewer (but no more) pills than are prescribed- if you want to try the medicine for instance. However, often your fee (copay) is the same whether you get 5 or 30 pills. It’s tricky. I don’t prescribe amounts other than what you’re taking, for example, if you take one pill a day, I don’t write two per day. For most pills (pain pills are a notable exception) we give six refills, the rest is between you, your insurance and the pharmacy.

How to:
Remember, if you need a new prescription (you’ve used up your refills), you’re supposed to be having a visit in the office! PLEASE, watch the number of refills left on your bottle. When it says zero, a new prescription is needed to keep getting it.

Mail Away Prescriptions: please come to a planned visit (see above) and ask us for the prescription-these often in 3 month increments. If the system failed, you can call us and we will mail it to you or you may come by and pick it up. Increasingly some systems require a refill be faxed. I worry that these faxes aren’t always received and we don’t get notice.

Local Pharmacy: Call your pharmacy and request that your prescription be faxed to the office. Be assured we call pharmacies within hours of your request. However, please wait 1-2 days for your request to be filled. The pharmacy faxes, we pull them off the machine and check your chart to be sure you’re on the medicine and keep track of it, call the pharmacy and they put the pills in the bottle- it takes some time.

Please call us and let us know if a special circumstance is happening so we can take the steps to try and accommodate you.

“Special Prescriptions”- pain medication etc. these have to be written on a special prescription pad. They are only done during office hours. Please give us 2 days to write it out.

Cancellation Policy:

We require 24 hours notice. After a warning (you’re a repeat offender) I reserve the right to charge a $50.00 fee for missed appointments without canceling. Also, annual physicals are long. We often can’t fill them. Please try your best to come to your appointment (we do keep the appointment even if you’re on your period).

Late Policy:

We will try and be on time!!! If you’re really busy and need to know if we’re running on time, it’s OK to call and check. Once in a while if we’re really busy, your lateness will just cause an impossible avalanche in our schedule, so if we can’t catch up because you’re over 10 minutes late, we may ask you to reschedule. Sorry!

Confirming:

We will call you the Friday before your Monday appointment or the day before your weekday appointment.

Taking good care of you:

We are concerned about your health and mental well being-we care about you- and worry too. We can’t help it. Certain things may happen in your life that we wouldn’t necessarily find out about but would want to support you if you needed it. For example, if your spouse died or was ill.

Another thing that we are often unaware of is an emergency room visit. I would like you to call the office the first business day after you’ve been in the ER. Please let us know if you need help. You are WELCOME to call before you go to the ER and, it works best if you have the ER doctor call me while you’re there so I know what’s happening.

Along the same lines, if you have a serious medical event and are transferred to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital- the ER often does not tell me. Let me know ASAP.

If you have any tests done (including pap smears and mammograms) please have a copy sent to me. The ordering physicians name will be on it and I won’t call to give you the results, but you may need help and I also just want to know what is going on with you.

If you want a second opinion, or think you should see a specialist, please discuss it with me. I can help you find the BEST person for the job. It also helps keep your evaluation linear and simple. You DO NOT need to worry about my feelings-we are a team. Let’s work together! If you do see a specialist that you find on your own, please have the consultation note sent to me- if you don’t get better and end up seeing me for the same problem it is so helpful to know their opinion.

Insurance (a necessary? Evil):

Insurance is tricky. The policies are complicated. PLEASE be sure you have a test done at a place your insurance covers. We try our best to send you to the right place but insurance policies change usually without notifying us and everyone’s policy (even among Blue Cross for example) is different.

Insurances sometimes don’t cover things that logic would suggest they might. For example, Medicare covers tetanus shots only if needed for an injury, not for routine boosters. That means they won’t pay for it. However, if you decide you do need it, if you sign a waiver stating you understand, I can give it and you can pay for it.

Billing:

Some insurances have an arrangement with patients that they pay their portion up front at the visit- a copay. This is contractual agreement you make with your insurance company and it is due at the time of service.

We use a billing company called Accuquick, so we can focus more of our efforts on taking care of you.

HMR Diet program:

My office runs a medically supervised diet program on Wednesdays in Solvang and Thursdays in Santa Maria. On Wednesdays there are happy, loud people in the office and it’s hard to do “my day job”. We will see you if you’re really sick. We have the answering machine on but we do check it to be sure we don’t miss any sick calls. I do the diet program because it’s about HEALTH. It’s rare that I get to cause health and not treat sick. I try hard to keep it from “regular patient’s” experience of the office.

Feedback:

Please give your feedback to me-good or bad. My basic philosophy is to strive to do better on all things. Your feedback helps. This is a relationship –I hope to know and appreciate you well during this span. Cris and I (and all the office staff) worry about you and care how you feel. Please remember that in you dealings with us in the office- we are people who are trying our best.

Again, Welcome, we look forward to a long, healthy relationship with you!