What are your office hours?

We are open Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. Wednesday and Thursday mornings we have extended hours starting at 7:30 AM with certain providers. Our phones are answered from 8 AM to 12 noon and then from 1 pm to 4 pm, Monday through Friday. We do turn the phones over to the answering service from 12-1 PM each day. We do not have regularly scheduled office hours on Saturday or Sunday however there is always a doctor on call.

Who is available to answer questions about my child?

From 8 AM to 12 noon and from 1 PM to 4 PM, we have telephone advice nurses. Often they will answer immediately when you call, however, if call volume is high, you may need to leave a message. Phone calls are typically returned within 1-2 hours but in the winter months when call volume is extremely high, it may take longer than that. We recommend using our patient portal with questions during business hours as response time is often quicker than with phone messages. If you have an emergency, call 911 instead of calling our office. From 4 PM to 8 AM our calls are answered by an after-hours nursing line staffed by Children’s of Alabama. There is always a physician on call so if the nursing line is unable to handle the problem, the physician will be paged. There is a $15 per call fee for after-hours calls from this service.

Do you have a patient portal? What can it be used for?

Tuscaloosa Pediatrics is pleased to announce that we have a secure Patient Portal. This portal is designed to enhance patient/guardian – physician communication. We encourage you to sign up for our patient portal which can provide a quick and easy way to request appointments and prescription refills, see growth charts and immunization records, pay bills, request school excuses, and communicate with our office staff including phone nurses, insurance department, and front desk. If you are interested in signing up for Patient Portal access, please contact our office . If you have any questions regarding the Patient Portal please contact our office at (205) 333-8222 and one of our staff members will be happy to assist you.

Can I request a visit through the patient portal?

Yes! This is actually the best way to make an appointment request. Did your child wake up at 2 am with a fever or complain of ear pain at bedtime? Go ahead and put in a request for a sick appointment through our portal right then! Our nurses will review your message when they arrive at the office in the morning and offer you an appointment through a return portal message, sometimes before our phone lines even turn on for the day! Please refrain from calling the office if you have already sent a portal message overnight. If you haven’t heard from us by 9 am, then please call at that time. Well checkups and rechecks can also be scheduled through the portal. Portal messages are not checked overnight or during the weekend.

What happens if I need to be seen and your office is closed?

If the problem is minor such as an earache, sore throat, or minor trauma and you feel your child cannot wait until our office opens again, we recommend you visit an urgent care clinic. If the problem is more urgent, we recommend you visit the DCH Regional Medical Center Emergency Room or Children's of Alabama Emergency Room. If you are having difficulty deciding where to go but you do not feel it is an emergency that requires 911, please call our after-hours nursing service. If you have not heard back from them within 1 hour, please call again. If you have an emergency, call 911 instead of the after-hours nursing service.

Will I be able to see the same doctor every time?

For routine check-ups and other non-urgent visits, we try to schedule you with your provider of choice. However, in order to facilitate timely appointments, if the doctor you prefer is not available, we will offer an appointment with another doctor or nurse practitioner. For urgent or same-day sick appointments, we will schedule you with the provider that can see you first. If you have a preference, please let our phone nurses know and if that provider has an appointment available we will schedule you with her.

Who will see my newborn or sick child in the hospital?

Our newborn patients in the Well Baby Nursery at DCH Regional Medical Center are cared for by the pediatricians from University Medical Center. For newborns, all you have to do is specify Tuscaloosa Pediatrics or the specific physician name for your child and he/she will be seen within 24 hours of delivery by the hospitalist team. If your baby is born at Northport DCH, he or she will be seen by the Northport DCH hospitalist who takes care of our patients. Our pediatric patients who require hospitalization at DCH are cared for by the University Medical Center pediatricians. They are assisted by Family Practice residents and UAB medical students.

How long is the waiting room time? Do you have sick and well waiting rooms?

This depends on the time of year (winter is busier), time of day (after-school hours are busier), and severity of illness of patients prior to your appointment. If we have an unusually sick child, your wait may be longer and we will try to inform you of this situation. We respect your time and will try to get your visit started as close to your appointment time as possible. We try and get patients back to an exam room quickly to minimize exposure to others in the waiting room whenever possible but we do also offer sick and well waiting room areas.

Are you closed on holidays?

Tuscaloosa Pediatrics is only closed for six holidays during the year - New Year's Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We are typically open for sick patients only on the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve when these fall on a weekday. We are open on all other federal holidays including Martin Luther King Jr Day, President's Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day.

How long do I have to wait for an appointment?

For sick visits, we try to see you on the same day you call. However, in the winter when the clinic is busiest, you may be offered an appt the following day for non-urgent problems. Well appointments are scheduled with the provider you request, so the wait times will vary per provider.

Do you call in prescriptions?

Yes. However, there are medications such as oral antibiotics or controlled substances, that we do not typically prescribe without an office visit. We do have a prescription refill line and encourage you to leave a message when you need a medication refill. Refills are usually called in within 24-48 hours.

I'm expecting! What do I need to do?

Please fill out our newborn demographic packet that is available under the Forms section on this website or drop by our office to pick up a copy. We request you return this packet to us at least 2 months before your due date as babies sometimes make an early arrival! After your baby is born, call us so we can schedule your baby's first visit with us.

What insurances do you accept?

We accept most major private insurances including Blue Cross, Allkids, United, Aetna, Tricare, etc.  We are not accepting any Medicaid patients at this time. Exceptions may be made for siblings of current patients so please contact us in that situation. If you have a change in your insurance plan, please contact our office and let us know.

How often does my child need a routine check-up?

Tuscaloosa Pediatrics strongly supports the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that routine well child checkups are necessary for a healthy start in life. For the first year of life, children will be in for check-ups every 2-3 months. Between ages 1-3 years, they have checkups every 3-6 months. After age 3, they come in once per year. There are many things that your pediatrician screens for at checkups including growth and development, mental health, vision and hearing, immunizations, and any needed lab work.

Can I fill out my child's questionnaires at home before the visit?

You will be sent an email or text request from CHADIS to login to your patient portal and complete any questionnaires that are needed for a visit. These questionnaires assist in the early diagnosis of developmental, social, emotional, and behavioral concerns as well as a variety of health risks that can be difficult to see during a typical visit. All responses are completely confidential and cannot be viewed by anyone except your doctor or nurse. Filling your questionnaires out online before your visit improves both the checkup experience and our care. It is the policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics that teenagers should provide information to their doctor independently of their parents. This allows teenagers to actively participate in their own healthcare and empowers them to provide honest and open answers. Your child can either set up their own portal if over the age of 14 or they can fill out their questionnaire in the office on their phone or a tablet. We will review the results of the questionnaires during your visit and discuss any concerns you or your child may have.

Do you have a Lactation Consultant?

We provide in-office Lactation Services with our Lactation Specialist Vickie Lyle, RN, IBCLC for our patients. Newborns will follow up with Vickie and one of our pediatricians within 1-3 days after discharge for weight and jaundice checks. Breastfeeding moms are always welcome to call and schedule a visit with Vickie if they need advice at any time!

Can you do lab work and imaging in your office?

We are able to do lab work in our office but we refer patients to Radiology Clinic, DCH, or Children's of Alabama for imaging (x-rays, CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, etc.) depending on what is needed. We have a phlebotomist (a person who is trained to draw blood from a patient) in our office who is available to do your child’s lab work during our regular office hours. Lab work will be sent to GoldenPoint Scientific Lab in Birmingham (the same place we send our viral panels) and most routine labs should be back the following day. Special send out labs may take longer. There will still be certain situations where your doctor may send you to the DCH outpatient lab if results are needed urgently. And if you know your insurance requires a certain lab for all bloodwork, be sure to let us know. If your child is due for cholesterol or blood sugar screenings, it is best to be fasting so if they have a morning appointment and you know they are due for one of these tests, please don’t let them have anything to eat or drink except water that morning.

Do you do Sports Physicals?

As long as your child has had a checkup with us within the past year, your child’s pediatrician can fill out their Sports Physical form for school or camp without another office visit. There are a few rare exceptions to this (for example if your child has had a prolonged illness or a major injury since their last checkup) that may require another visit but in general, the well child checkup is good for one year. If your child has yearly checkups at Tuscaloosa Pediatrics as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, then you should never have to visit an urgent care for a Sports Physical. Sports Physicals are best performed by someone who knows your child’s complete medical history and that’s us! Some of our patients just always make it a point to get their Sports Physical forms filled out at their yearly checkup and that works well so they are never scrambling at the last minute. You can also drop the forms by at a later time but there will be a small fee and it may take several business days but it’s still more convenient than an urgent care visit!

Do you offer mental health services?

All of our doctors have experience in the treatment of ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Tuscaloosa Pediatrics has developed a partnership with Dr. Jocelyn Fowler where she offers counseling services to our patients in the familiar location of our office. Her specialties include Children and Adolescents (ages 4-19), Parenting, Chronic Health Conditions, ADHD, Anxiety, Behavioral Issues, Coping Skills, Depression, Eating Disorders, Grief, Medication Management, Obsessive-Compulsive (OCD), Parent- Child Relationships, Peer Relationships, Self-Esteem, Self-Harming, Sibling Relationships, Sleep, Stress, Impulse Control Disorders, Mood Disorders, and Thinking Disorders. For more information or to set up an appointment call – (205) 386-7093. (Dr. Fowler is not an employee of Tuscaloosa Pediatrics and handles all of her scheduling and billing services separate from our office).

Are you a Patient-Centered Medical Home?

Tuscaloosa Pediatrics is certified as a NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home. NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care that supports access, communication and patient involvement. The Patient-Centered Medical Home is a model of care that puts patients at the forefront of care. PCMHs build better relationships between patients and their clinical care teams. Research shows that PCMHs improve quality and the patient experience, while also reducing health care costs. Practices that earn recognition have made a commitment to continuous quality improvement and a patient-centered approach to care. Patients who are treated in PCMHs tend to receive preventative services and screenings at a higher rate than patients not in PCMHs, helping keep them healthy. A core concept of the PCMH model is to communicate with patients and their families/caregivers. The model emphasizes enhanced access so patients can get clinical advice or medical records when needed. It also prioritizes effective sharing of information between primary care physicians and specialists to ensure better care for patients. PCMHs are especially helpful for patients with complex chronic conditions. Research shows that these conditions are managed better in a medical home.

How do we get information from your practice?

Tuscalooosa Pediatrics communicates with their patients in many ways. In addition to this website, we are active on Facebook and Instagram. All patients who have an email address on file with us will receive updates via email for things like Flu Shot clinics or weather closings. We also send out newsletters periodically with medical information or events our patients might find useful or interesting. Appointment reminders are sent by email or text and we use our patient portal to send patient informational handouts.