Primary Care, Haverford

At CHOP Primary Care, Haverford, PA, (formerly Kids First) we are committed to providing the highest quality care for your children.

The Primary Care, Haverford physicians and nurse practitioners collectively have many years of pediatric experience and local community involvement. We are a mature group of healthcare professionals who have the expertise that instills confidence. Most of our new patient referrals come from our current patients who recommend us to others. We pride ourselves in making each and every patient and child feel as comfortable as possible during office visits. Parents are not rushed and we welcome questions and discussions.

Part of the CHOP Care Network, our practice provides comprehensive primary care from birth through young adulthood. We accept most insurance plans, and our doctors have staff privileges at area hospitals, in addition to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Because we understand how important it is for you to get through to the office, our recently updated telephone triage helps us receive your more urgent calls in a timely manner. Our nurses are experienced in offering telephone advice both during office hours and later from the After Hours phone service.

Moreover, we strive to create the best doctor-patient relationship so that you can rely on us for medical guidance when your child is ill and times are stressful. Equally important are the preventive health visits that, over time, foster a relationship that we hope both you and your child will value. These long-term relationships are the joys of our pediatric profession.

Please consider our group when you are making the important decision of choosing your child's health caretakers.

For more excellent pediatric information, we also recommend the American Academy of Pediatrics website for parents.

About the practice

Primary Care, Haverford, is a member of the CHOP Care Network. All of our physicians are all board-certified pediatricians and fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Our physicians are active members of the medical staff at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

In addition, each of the practice's physicians are active members of the medical staff for our local community hospitals, Bryn Mawr Hospital and Lankenau Hospital. The pediatricians are available to provide care for infants in the newborn nursery at both of these institutions. If you have questions concerning such care, or would like to arrange a prenatal appointment, please call the office and our staff would be happy to arrange an appointment with our nurse.

For children and adolescents requiring hospital admission, we maintain close contact with the pediatric staff at all of the local pediatric hospitals. Historically, most of our patients choose to use the facilities of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia or Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Our nursing staff is trained to answer routine questions concerning childcare and common illnesses. When you call, the nurse will help you determine the best approach for your child, whether it is phone advice or an appointment with your pediatrician. For more complex problems, the nurses consult with the pediatricians. We are always here if you need us and encourage you to call with any questions or concerns that you may have.

Visits

All visits are by appointment only by, including well visits and same-day sick visits.

Please call as early in the day as possible for sick visits. If you need more than one child seen, please let us know when you schedule the sick visit.

If you have a change in address, phone number or insurance information, please notify our receptionist. All patients younger than age 18, and all new patients, must be accompanied by a parent or authorized adult guardian in order to be evaluated by a clinician.

Broken appointments

Our practice is dedicated to the highest quality medical care for infants and children. Because healthcare is a joint effort between parents, families and doctors, it is necessary that patients attend all scheduled appointments. It is difficult for us to provide quality healthcare when medical advice and scheduled appointments are not followed as recommended.

At Primary Care, Haverford, we value your time and do our best to ensure we have office hours and appointments that reflect our dedication to your child's health. We provide a variety of ways to make and cancel appointments, including in-person, by phone and over the Internet.

When you do not attend your pre-scheduled appointment, this is an appointment that is lost. The appointment cannot be used for another child who may be sick or who requires a well-child check. Therefore, when a patient "no-shows" for an appointment, the biggest impact is on other children and families in the practice.

If you have an appointment that you will not be able to make, or think that you do not need, please let us know at least 24 hours in advance. To cancel an appointment, please call us at 610-658-0999 or e-mail us at kfhappointments@email.chop.edu. By doing this, you will allow us to help other families in the practice who can use the appointment.

At Primary Care, Haverford, as part of our scheduling and medical record, we have the ability to track appointments. If we see a pattern of broken appointments, we will attempt to contact you (by mail or telephone) to ensure that your child is well. If the appointment that was broken involves the completion of papers for daycare, school, driver's forms, or other forms, we may be unable to complete those forms until the appointment has been rescheduled and kept. If you have three broken appointments in the span of 1 year, you may be asked to choose another practice.

Late policy

In order to service all of the scheduling needs for our patients, we ask that you arrive on time for your appointment. If you arrive 15 minutes late for your appointment we may ask you to reschedule.