General Policies
OFFICE HOURS
Santa Barbara Office: Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Solvang Office: Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Examinations are by appointment during these hours.
EMERGENCIES
A physician is on call 24 hours a day. Patients experiencing any problem or emergency, or having questions regarding their treatment, may contact the doctor on-call by dialing the office number. The physician will be notified and will return your call promptly.
APPOINTMENTS
Appointments in Santa Barbara may be scheduled by calling (805) 963-9377 during office hours. Appointments in Solvang may be scheduled either by calling the Santa Barbara office listed previously or by calling our Solvang office at (805) 688-8821 during office hours.
MEDICATION REFILLS
All medication refills are coordinated through your pharmacy or the Santa Barbara office. For prescription refills please have your pharmacy fax your refill request to our office.
Prescription refills are never available on weekends, evenings or on holidays
All refill requests must be submitted during regular business hours
The patient is responsible for planning their medication needs so that they will not run out on weekends, long weekends or on holidays.
Use of the answering service over weekends and holidays is reserved for emergency medical needs.
Doctors on emergency medical call on the weekends and holidays cannot make medication refill decisions because the patient charts are not available to them. We are required by federal law to keep medication records and cannot do so without having access to patient charts.
We require 24-48 hour notice to process all prescription refill requests.
Non-controlled/Non-narcotic prescriptions require a follow-up appointment every 3-6 months.
Controlled substances/Narcotic prescriptions require a follow-up appointment every 30-90 days.
Payment Policies
We are committed to the success of your medical treatment and care. Please understand that a mutual financial understanding is a part of our relationship. Thank you for choosing Alta Orthopaedics for your orthopaedic care.
PAYMENT METHODS
We accept payment by cash, check, VISA, MasterCard and CareCredit, American Express and Discover.
HEALTH PLAN PARTICIPATION
If you are Tricare, Medi-Cal, MIA, CENCAL, Tribal Health, Sansum IPA, Santa Barbara Select IPA you need authorization to be seen. If we do not receive HMO authorization prior to your arrival at the office, your appointment will be rescheduled. Please call your plan’s customer service department to verify if we are contracted providers.
FREQUENTLY ASKED BILLING & INSURANCE QUESTIONS
We have answered a variety of commonly-asked financial policy questions on our FAQ page. If you need further information about any of these policies please ask a Billing Specialist.