Privacy Policy

This notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information.

Understanding your health record/information

Each time you visit Pediatricians of Dallas, a record of your visit is made. This record can be either written, oral, or in electronic format. Typically, this record contains your symptoms, examination and test results, diagnosis, treatment and a plan for future care. This information is often referred to as your health or medical record.

Uses and Disclosures

Treatment: Your health information may be used by staff members or disclosed to other health care professionals for the purpose of evaluation your health, diagnosing medical conditions, and providing treatment.

Payment: Your health information may be used to seek payment from your health plan or from other sources of coverage such as an automobile insurer.  For example, your health plan may request and receive information on dates of service, the service provided, and the medical condition being treated. Health Care Operations: Your health information may be used as necessary to support day-to-day activities and management of Pediatricians of Dallas.  Fore example, information on the services you receive may be used to support budgeting and financial reporting, and activities to evaluate and promote quality.

Law Enforcement: Your health information may be disclosed to law enforcement agencies to support government audits and inspections, to facilitate law enforcement investigations and to comply with government mandated reporting.

Public Health Reporting: Your health information may be disclosed to public health agencies as required by law. For example, we are required to report certain communicable diseases to the state’s public health department.

Additional Uses of Information

Photographs: We will display photographs that are sent to us unless you give specific instructions not to display them.

Appointment reminders: Your health information will be used by our staff to remind you of your upcoming appointments.

Other uses and Disclosure Require your Authorization: Disclosure of your health information or its use for any purpose other than those listed above requires your specific written authorization. If you change your mind after authorizing a use or disclose of your information, you may submit a written revocation of the authorization. However, your decision to revoke the authorization will not affect or undo any use or disclosure of information that occurred before you notified us of your decision to revoke your authorization.

Individual Rights

You have certain rights under the federal privacy standards. These include a) the right to request restrictions on the use and disclosure of your protected health information, b) the right to receive confidential communications concerning your medical condition and treatment, c) the right to inspect and copy your protected health information, d) the right to amend or submit corrections to your protected health information, e) the right to receive an accounting of how and to whom your protected health information has been disclosed, and f) the right to receive a printed copy of this notice.

Duties

We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information and to provide you with this “Notice of Privacy Practices.” We are also required to abide by the privacy policies and practices that are outlined in this notice.

Right to Revise Privacy Practices

As permitted by law, we reserve the right to amend or modify our privacy policies and practices. These changes in our policies and practices may be required by changes in federal and state laws and regulations. Upon request, we will provide you with the most recently revised notice on any office visit. The revised policies and practices will be applied to all protected health information that we maintain.

Request to Inspect Protected Health Information

You may generally inspect or copy the protected health information that we maintain. As permitted by federal regulation, we require that requests to inspect or copy protected health information be submitted in writing.  You may obtain a form to request access to your records by contacting the Front Office Manager or the Privacy Officer. Your request will be reviewed and will generally be approved unless there are legal or medical reasons to deny the request.

Complaints

If you would like to submit a comment or complaint about our privacy practices, you can do so by sending a letter outlining your concerns to:

Privacy Officer

Pediatricians of Dallas, P.A.

8325 Walnut Hill Ln #225

Dallas, Texas 75231

Meet Our Team
The Doctors, Nurses, and Staff of POD

From the beginning, our goal has been to "put the patient first." It is important to us that our staff treats the needs of your child like their own. They have been carefully selected and trained to provided excellent service.

Our Pediatricians

Somer Curtis
MD, FAAP

Karen Halsell
MD, FAAP

Hillary Lewis
MD, FAAP

Joe B. Neely
MD, FAAP

Jerald Mefferd
MD, FAAP

James W. Watkins
MD, FAAP

Matthew M. Yaeger
MD, FAAP

Our Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

Amanda Bodwell
DNP, RN, CPNP

Ashley Smith
RN, MSN, CPNP-PC/AC

Lindsay Armstrong
RN, MSN, CPNP-PC

What is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner?

Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (PNPs) are health care providers who are dedicated to improving children's health. PNPs have advanced education in pediatric nursing and healthcare and they serve children and families in an extensive range of practice settings. Working with pediatricians and other healthcare providers, PNPs have been enhancing the healthcare of children for over forty years.

Information from The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

Our Diagnostic Specialists

What do our Diagnostic Specialists do?

Our diagnosticians perform psycho-educational evaluations of children struggling with developmental delays and learning differences. They diagnose learning disabilities such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Disorder of Written Expression, and ADHD. They also offer re-evaluations for High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. After the diagnostic evaluation is completed, a test results appointment is scheduled to assist parents in educational planning in their child’s public or private school setting as well as recommendations for their child's social and emotional health. A full report is provided to parents at the test results appointment.

Lee Ann Hamm, MS
Licensed Psychological Associate, Licensed Professional Counselor, and National Certified Counselor

Susie Gartman
BSN, RN,
ADHD Nurse

Katie Shaffer
M. Ed.
Educational Diagnostician

Our Mental Health Counselor

Lisa McCarthy, MSW, LCSW

Our Lactation Consultants

Lisa Brannon
RN, BSN, IBCLC

McKenna Wootton
Lactation Educator

Abbie Skinner
RN, Lactation Educator

What does a lactation consultant do?

Lactation consultants are trained to help mothers with a variety of issues surrounding breastfeeding, including latching difficulties, painful nursing, low milk production, or inadequate weight gain. They can help women meet their nursing goals when they are faced with special challenges such as returning to work or school. You may wish to seek their advice about breastfeeding equipment (such as breast pumps) and additional supplies that might be helpful to you as a nursing mother.

Our Staff

Angela Barnett
MS-MHA, RN, PHR
Practice Administrator

Niecy Smith
Billing Manager

Our Nurse Managers - Alison Brown and Erin Bakke

Front Desk Manager - Tory Coughran

Our Nurses

Our Triage Phone Nurses

Our Front Office Staff

Our Billing Department

 

The Nurses: RNs and pediatric trained medical assistants are available to answer your questions during office hours.

The Front Office Staff will be the first group you will interact with during your visit. Between car pool, football practice, and swim lessons, our receptionist will do her best to schedule an appointment that is convenient for you. At check-in, the staff will verify your insurance and payment information and prep your chart for the visit. At check-out, they will collect any co-payments or deductibles, schedule your next well child checkup, and print a shot record if needed.

The Managers: Combined, they have over 60 years experience in the medical field. (Wow! None of them looks that old!) Each department has a manager that reports to our office manager. Together, they make sure the practice runs smoothly and are constantly trying to improve the efficiency of the office.

The Billing Office Staff strive to stay up to date with the changes in healthcare. They will file your claim and follow up on any unpaid services. If a service is denied, our staff will appeal on your behalf to try to get the claim paid. Only then will any unpaid service be billed to you.

Pediatricians of Dallas
Help Us Help Your Child

Choosing the right pediatrician for your child is not easy. You have to consider qualifications, distance, personality, quality and flexibility in the office in which the doctor works, costs, and, of course, attitude.

None of the pediatricians in our group is perfect for everybody, but each is just right for someone. All are well qualified, trained and up-to-date. Each has their own special ability to connect with children and parents. As best as can be managed, they want children and their parents to be comfortable coming to the office and confident their problems will be addressed in efficient, reasonable ways.

Who is a part of your practice?

Our staff includes seven pediatricians, two nurse practitioners, and one diagnostician.

With which hospitals are your doctors affiliated?

We see new babies every day at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. If a child is sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, we prefer Children's Medical Center, where we are on staff and have teaching responsibilities.

I'm expecting a new baby. Do I need to see the doctor before I deliver?

You don't have to, but you may prefer to. If you would like to meet with any of our doctors prior to delivery, just call us to work out a time to come by for a chat. We ordinarily do these during the lunch hour, but if that doesn't work for you, it may be possible to arrange another time.

If you choose one of the doctors here, just give the doctor's name to the registration people at the hospital when you go in to deliver or when you preregister. They will contact us as soon as the baby is born!

What hours is your office open?

We begin answering the phone every Monday through Saturday at 8:00am and appointments start at 9:00am Monday through Friday and at 8:30am on Saturday. Ordinarily, on weekdays, the last appointments of the day begin at 4:30pm, but we stay open every day as late as is needed to see patients that need to be seen and have called for an appointment earlier in the day. There may be an additional fee billed for after-hours appointments.

We are not open New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

Will I always see the same provider?

Most patients see the same doctor most of the time. There will be times when your chosen doctor is not available and you can have appointment times with one of the other doctors or the nurse practitioners. Some families choose to see different doctors or settle on a favorite substitute. Some children, as they mature, feel more comfortable with a doctor of the same gender, and siblings don't always agree. You get to choose, as you become acquainted with our staff and can make appointments with whichever provider you or your child prefers. Each of the providers has their own personality, but they all practice medicine in similar ways.

If I have an emergency, can I just walk in and be seen?

As a rule, we discourage walk in visits. If you really think it is an emergency, call us first, or if you're really worried, go to the emergency room, which is best equipped to handle true emergencies. Patients with appointments (and that will be you, of course) deserve to be seen as close to on time as we can manage. Walk in patients will be triaged by the nurse, and if stable, will be given the next available appointment. It's always to your and everyone else's advantage to call for a time.

What if I have a question but am not sure if I need to see the doctor?

We have RNs and trained medical assistants to answer your questions during office hours. Please feel free to call at any time with any questions or concerns. If the advice line is busy, our staff will return your call within the hour (usually sooner).

How do you handle after hours calls?

After hours calls will be forwarded to an on-call triage nurse. Please limit these calls to emergencies or urgent questions that you feel cannot wait until the following day. We do have an after hours charge for calls, unless it is connected to a visit.

Do you have separate waiting rooms for sick and well children?

Yes, we have three separate waiting areas: a well and a sick waiting room and a newborn waiting room. The newborn waiting area is only for children 4 months and younger and only if they are well.

How often do you see infants the first year?

After discharge from the hospital, infants are seen first when they are three to six days old. This visit concentrates on any issues from the birth time and expectations for feeding and weight gain and frequently involves one of our lactation consultants if the mom is breastfeeding. The next routine well-child exams occur at two weeks, two months, four months, six months, nine months, and twelve months. Each visit helps us answer your questions, check for appropriate development, and update immunizations.

How do you handle prescription refills?

Requests for prescription refills can be addressed to the advice nurse call line during office hours. Please allow 48 hours for your prescription request to be completed. Medications cannot be refilled after hours.

What about camp forms, school forms or shot records?

We will gladly complete these forms for you. In order to do this, your child should have had a well child visit within the past 12 months. Visits for an illness address a specific problem and are not ordinarily comprehensive enough for us to complete these forms. There is no charge for completing these forms, but please allow us 48 hours. They can be mailed or faxed, if that is what works best for you.

Which insurance plans do you take?

We accept almost all major insurance plans and many of the smaller ones. Our website provides a list of accepted plans on our Insurance page. It is best to call our business office for specifics about your plan. Insurance companies' websites and online information about available providers are, as you may have discovered, frequently out of date. If you have a plan that we don't cover, perhaps we need to consider it. Let us know.