Family medicine doctors at PAMF care for newborns, children, teenagers, adults and elderly patients, providing comprehensive care for every member of the family. Your family medicine doctor will work with you to ensure appropriate preventive care as well as treatment for acute and chronic conditions.
At PAMF, our goal is to make it easy for you to schedule an appointment to see your doctor whenever you want. To make your primary care appointment, you can call your local clinic or login to My Health Online to request an appointment online. If you would like a same-day appointment, call early in the day when we are better able to meet your needs. Our greatest demand for urgent same-day appointments tends to come later in the day. If you can schedule non-urgent appointments for the morning or early afternoon, it’s easier for us to accommodate you. Routine physical examinations as well as chronic medical problems and follow-up care should be scheduled in advance.
If you are unable to keep your appointment, please notify the office at least 24 hours before the appointment time to re-schedule, and to allow other patients to use the time. After hours, you will be transferred to our cancellation line to leave a message.
For Your Visit
We are committed to offering you an appointment with your personal physician on the day of your choice whenever possible. There are several ways you can help us meet your appointment needs:
- Please be on time for your appointment.
- New patients should arrive 30 minutes prior to their first scheduled appointment in order to allow time for our staff to obtain necessary personal and insurance information.
- Please bring your health insurance card with you for every visit.
- Inform the registration staff of changes in name, address, phone number or insurance.
- Prioritize your concerns as not all issues can be fully addressed in one visit. We are happy to arrange follow-up visits for you if necessary. Have a clear goal in mind about what you would like and be sure to let your doctor know at the beginning of your visit.
- Please bring all medications you take to each appointment, or bring a list of their names, doses and how often you take them. This includes prescription, over-the-counter and alternative or complementary medicines, herbs and supplements.
Telephone Assistance
When calling your doctor's office, please have your chart number or personal information ready. Always give us your name, the name of the family member you are calling about, and as much information about the problem as possible. For instance, knowing your sick child's temperature is helpful. Your doctor or their medical assistant will return your call between patients or at the end of the day.
Telephone calls should be for brief and routine medical questions only. Our doctors can’t treat new problems over the phone. For more complicated or chronic medical problems, please make an office appointment. If you need a medication refill, call your pharmacy directly at least three days before you need your prescriptions refilled.
Referral to Specialists
For most medical problems, you should see your family medicine provider first. If the problem requires treatment from a specialist, your primary care provider will make the referral and help arrange your appointment if necessary.
Urgent Care Needs
A family medicine physician is always on-call, but please reserve your calls for urgent matters. Clinic operators can reach the on-call physician 24 hours a day. Unless the problem is life-threatening, please call us before going to an emergency room or another healthcare facility.
PAMF also has Urgent Care Centers throughout the Bay Area that are open evenings, weekends and holidays. In cases of true life-threatening emergencies, please call 911.