Many services are not paid for/covered by the Medical Services Plan (MSP). Spectrum Health is pleased to provide some of these services free of charge to our patients, including: cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen for hand warts and other benign skin lesions (including skin tags) and phone requests for medication refills from pharmacies. Other services that are not covered by MSP will be charged to the patient directly and can be paid in cash or cheque at the front desk as follows:

  • Doctor’s note (including sick notes): $30
  • Medical form: starting at $40
  • Drug Benefit Form for 3rd party insurer, Special Authority Form for 3rd party insurer: $40
  • Driver’s Exam & Form: $100
  • Fitness Exams for Camp, School, Sports etc: $80
  • Liquid Nitrogen (cosmetic): $50/session
  • Skin Excision (cosmetic) $150
  • Copy of medical chart: $35  *we will be provide a disk with a PDF file of your chart

Transfers of medical chart to your new family physician will be free of charge, given that we receive a written request with your consent from your new family physician.

 

Under certain circumstances we are able to offer medication refills for patients by telephone, however please note our policy is to take the refill request directly from a patient’s pharmacist, excluding HIV/PrEP medications.  If you are on a regular medication at a stable dose, are unable to see your doctor and require a refill, please ask your pharmacist to fax the request in. Please provide at least 24 hour notice for the request.

Please note there are exceptions – refills for controlled medications (i.e. opioids and medications requiring triplicate prescription pads and benzodiazepines) must be made in person with your physician. Further, if you are requesting refill of a medication you take for the management of a chronic condition, you may be provided only a short prescription if you have not been seen recently in clinic. For example, if you take medications for high blood pressure and have not had your blood pressure monitored recently, you may receive a small refill and asked to book a follow up appointment with your physician.

To request refill for HIV/PrEP medications, please call the clinic.

Prescription of controlled medications including opioids (codeine, oxycodone, oxycontin, hydromorphone etc.), benzodiazepines (lorazepam, clonazepam etc.) and sleeping medications (zopiclone etc.) are coming under increased scrutiny and regulation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) due to the tragic spike in overdose deaths relating to these medications over the past year in British Columbia.

In June 2016 the CPSBC issued a Professional Standard regarding the prescription of these medications (https://www.cpsbc.ca/files/pdf/PSG-Safe-Prescribing.pdf). All doctors practicing in British Columbia are bound by this Standard which ‘reflects relevant legal requirements and are enforceable under the Health Professions Act, RSBC 1996, c.183 (HPA) and College Bylaws under the HPA’.

Refills for these medications must be made in person with your doctor as a reassessment of your pain and function is required on a regular basis (unless these medications are prescribed in the context of palliative care or cancer management). If you have any questions relating to changes in your medications or the new clinic policies please book an appointment to speak with your doctor.

As a courtesy we do not charge for cancelled appointments. However, if you know that you are unable to make an appointment, even if it is the day of the appointment, we would appreciate if you could call and let our staff know so that another patient who may need to be seen can be fit into that appointment slot.

We understand that circumstances can arise causing late arrivals and do our best to accommodate. If a physician is fully booked up for the day however and you are more than 15 minutes late for your appointment, you may be asked to come back later in the day or rebook for another day. If you are able to phone and let our staff know that you are running late it is appreciated as another patient may be able to be seen early in order to accommodate a late arrival.

 

You will be contacted/notified of any abnormal test results.

Due to high demand for our nurses, we are no longer able to call/report normal results by telephone. Lab results are available online within 24 hours of reporting either through My eHealth or the Spectrum Health Patient Portal. If you are concerned about a test result, you are welcome to call the office to check if your result has arrived and book an appointment for follow-up.

Bloodwork results are usually reported/available in 1-5 days. X-ray & ultrasound results are usually available in 3-7 days. Pregnancy screening results can take 2-3 weeks. Pap test results can take up to 8 weeks.