Administrative Questions

• How do I become a patient of the SevaMed Institute?  Show || Hide
  A: Please contact our New Patient Coordinator at 813.269.2700. The NPC will discuss the details regarding our practice, insurance plans we accept, the services we provide. Then, the NPC will coordinate your first appointment with Dr. Saxena and guide you to the appropriate paperwork to be completed prior to your appointment with the Doctor.
• Can I keep my Primary Care Physician?  Show || Hide
  A: Absolutely. The SevaMed Institute serves both a Primary Care role and an Integrative Specialist role. While we are glad to become your Primary Care Practice, we are equally delighted to provide our expertise to help manage a specific aspect of your health.
• Are my visits covered by insurance?  Show || Hide
  A: Provided we accept your specific insurance plan, office visits are typically covered. If we anticipate that a service/procedure may not be covered, we will do our best to notify you prior to the rendering those services.
• What insurance plans are accepted?  Show || Hide
  A: We are currently accepting all PPO plans as well as many other types of coverage. Please contact Rhea, our New Patient Coordinator, if you have any questions regarding the plans we accept.
• How important is my New Patient Paperwork?  Show || Hide
  A: We have all had the experience of filling out page after page of medical information only to find that it is not reviewed. Our practice is very different. Your New Patient Paperwork is incredibly important as you will review it alongside Dr. Saxena at your first visit and it will serve as the foundation of your Patient Care Plan. We also suggest that you complete the paperwork in advance and with ample time allotted to ensure complete and accurate responses.
  
  If you have not completed your New Patient Paperwork, please plan to arrive no less than 30 minutes prior to your appointment. Unfortunately, incomplete paperwork usually results in a less comprehensive visit as you will work with Dr. Saxena to complete the paperwork during your visit time rather than moving forward with your Patient Care Plan.
• When should I arrive for my appointment?  Show || Hide
  A: Please arrive for your appointment 10 minutes prior to your scheduled visit time. If you have not completed your new patient paperwork, please plan to arrive no less than 30 minutes prior to your appointment.
• What is your cancellation policy?  Show || Hide
  A: Scheduled time with our professional staff is considered to be extremely valuable and we have come to rely on a mutual respect for one another’s time. Your appointment time is exclusively yours and we never ‘overbook’ or ‘doublebook’ patients. If you find it necessary to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please contact our front office as soon as possible. For scheduled office visit appointments, we require at least 2 business days notice to avoid a $25 cancellation fee. If you fail to give this advance notice, we will bill you accordingly. In all fairness to our staff and other patients who may be on a waiting list for an open appointment, we ask that you respect this policy.
• How long is a typical visit?  Show || Hide
  A: The length of office visits varies based upon reason for the appointment. New patients should expect a minimum of 30 minutes for their first visit with Dr. Saxena. After you are established as a patient visits are typically 15-20 minutes. Additionally, your appointment time is exclusively yours and we never ‘overbook’ or ‘doublebook’ patients.
• What if I need medical assistance when the office is closed?  Show || Hide
  In the event of a suspected medical emergency, call 911 immediately. If admitted, please notify the hospital physician that you are Dr. Saxena’s patient.
  
  

  1.	After-hours services are available for urgent medical issues only. An urgent medical issue is one which cannot wait to be answered before the office reopens on the next business day.
  2.	Information to include in your message: patient name, phone number where you can be reached, nature of your urgent medical issue. Please speak slowly and clearly when leaving your message.
  3.	The provider will return your call within 2-3 hours. In the rare event that you do not receive a return call within 2-3 hours, please call again and leave another message.
  4.	Please do not leave routine prescription refill requests, scheduling issues/cancellations or referral issues on the on-call provider voicemail. These issues are only managed by the administrative staff during regular office hours. The medical providers are not responsible for relaying this information and it is possible that your issue could be left unresolved.

Clinical Questions

• What are the goals of the first visit?  Show || Hide
  A: In general, the goal of the first visit is for Dr. Saxena to appreciate the nature of the factors that may have resulted in the symptoms or disease you are trying to improve. By analyzing details starting at your fetal exposures all the way to your current medical stressors, Dr. Saxena determines if there are reversible triggers to your chronic symptoms and diseases. Many times, she will use an integrative approach bringing in a more comprehensive view of your problem. After understanding a possible set of causes, the visit ends with the development of a working Patient Care Plan to direct future care.
• What is a Patient Care Plan and how is it carried out?  Show || Hide
  A: A Patient Care Plan is a mutually determined/agreed-upon strategy developed by you and Dr. Saxena. The Care Plan is based on your specific health goals along with consideration of your current health status. As soon as your first visit with Dr. Saxena, you can expect to receive an enumerated ‘plan of attack’ to help you achieve your health objectives.
• What is Case Conference?  Show || Hide
  A: Case Conference is a weekly meeting among the clinical staff. This time is used to discuss patient care plans and allows Dr. Saxena to follow patients throughout their care plan.
• What is Dr. Saxena’s view of prescription medications?   Show || Hide
  A: It has been said that, “It is not the disease a person has, but the person that has the disease”. To that end, Dr. Saxena views each patient’s unique history and current situation to offer the most appropriate form of treatment. In many cases, a simple shift in lifestyle through nutritional counseling and education very often can allow a patient to avoid prescription medication if he/she desires. Then again, there are often instances where a prescription medication may be the best course of action.
  
  Our providers will always offer both conventional/prescription options along with other scientifically-based integrative options. Ultimately, the decision is made between patient and practitioner working as a team to uphold the patient’s desires with the provider’s clinical expertise/guidance.
• What is Dr. Saxena’s view of antibiotic use?   Show || Hide
  A: There is little doubt that conventional medicine’s greatest successes come in the area of acute illnesses such as cuts, broken bones, and infection. When considering antibiotics, Dr. Saxena does not believe in the use of antibiotics when the key clinical signs of infection are not present or if the signs appear overwhelmingly viral (caused by a virus). Other than the situation described above, our providers work closely with our patients to understand their specific desires regarding the use of antibiotics. Often a wait-and-see approach is indicated; however, sometimes more aggressive therapy is warranted based on the severity of the illness. It is in situations such as this where the provider’s expertise is considered along with the patient’s desires to arrive at an appropriate care path. You will always receive the latest recommendations based on clinical literature along with other clinically supported options for consideration.
• What is my responsibility as a patient?   Show || Hide
  A: This may seem like an odd question, however, at the SevaMed Institute we take a different view on the traditional Doctor-Patient relationship. As a patient in our practice, you are not a passive participant, nor are you a clinical specimen to be handled. To us, you are an extremely relevant partner in your health and care plan. It is for this reason that we ask only one thing of each patient….to give 100% effort regarding his/her health. In return, you can expect that we will match your 100% effort! Together, we can achieve your loftiest health goals.
• What kind of outcomes can I expect?   Show || Hide
  A: As stated earlier, we give 100% effort to each/every patient and, in return, we expect that as a partner in your healthcare, you will also give 100% effort. More often than imaginable, a desired clinical outcome is directly related to the amount of dedication/attention it is given. We work with you to incorporate our recommendations into your lifestyle.
  
  There are also times when a patient has exhausted every conventional avenue for a given health problem. In cases such as these, we sometimes see small changes having a big impact, however, there are also instances where time and effort are valuable partners in the process.
• How do I have a prescription refilled?   Show || Hide
  A: In order to create the safest environment with the fewest medication errors for you, we request that refill requests follow this protocol. Please call your pharmacist and have him/her fax a prescription refill request to 813.269.2701. The pharmacy fax request will contain the exact name, dosage, and quantity of medication being requested. We require 3-4 business days for routine refill requests for long-term medications. If you use a mail order pharmacy, please also have them fax a prescription refill request. Please note that same day/next day refill requests cannot be guaranteed.