- 2012-05-16: Ski to Sea 2012
- 2012-05-16: Update on Pertussis
- 2011-10-04: Flu, Pertussiss and other vaccines to consider even while pregnant
- 2011-06-13: Go Get WIC
- 2011-06-13: Cord blood banking – is it for you?
IWe are sorry to announce that Lindsay McDevitt, RN, has resigned her position at Bellingham Obstetrics and Gynecologic Associates. Lindsay has been a creative and energetic part of our practice, helping to create and nurture the position of Obstetrical Care Coordinator. She has also spearheaded multiple projects such as the development of this website. Patients at BOGA definitely appreciated her help and support.
Any patients who have been emailing and working with Lindsay should continue to communicate with our practice but through the email address of bogamedicalstaff@hinet.org.
We thank Lindsay for all of her hard work and expertise over these past five years.
We would like to welcome Anna Dowling as of September 19, 2011. Anna Dowling graduated from David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 2005 and went on to complete her OB/GYN residency at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. For the last two years she has been a practicing OB/GYN in the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Prior to medical school, Anna studied in Michigan and Colorado. She has worked as an EMT and as a wilderness guide. Anna and her husband, Matt and their 2 children have moved to Bellingham where she has joined Bellingham OB/GYN and they look forward to spending time enjoying our beautiful outdoors.
We would like to welcome Megan E. Gruber, ARNP as of November 8th, 2010. Megan received her Master's in Nursing from Washington State University in 2008 and Bachelors degree in Nursing from Western Michigan University/Bronson School of Nursing in 2002. She has 2 years experience as a Primary Care Family Practitioner with a special interest in Women's Health.
We would also like to share that St. Joseph Hospital has implemented a full time, in-house OB/GYN position at the childbirth center. OB hospitalists are available around the clock to respond to unexpected emergencies and care for patients who do not have a health care provider. They also support our physicians as back-up for deliveries and emergency C-sections. This will allow any patient coming to the childbirth center efficient medical care and expertise. Our physician on-call will be notified of your arrival at the childbirth center as always and will be there for your care and delivery. If you have further questions regarding either of these changes, please do not hesitate to ask.
Welcome to Bellingham Obstetric and Gynecologic Associates
Our practice is devoted to specialized women's health care. This includes routine and high risk prenatal care and delivery, routine gynecologic health maintenance and education, contraception, infertility, related endocrinology, and gynecologic surgery. We are trained to assess and treat premenstrual symptoms (PMS), menstrual difficulties, menopause, sexuality concerns, pelvic pain, vaginal infections, sexually transmitted diseases, and urinary incontinence.
we are five physicians and two nurse practitioners who practice together as a group. While one individual can not always be available, as a group we provide fully-trained specialty care on a 24-hour basis. One of us will always be available to assist and care for you in emergency situations. We each have many years of specialty training in obstetrics and gynecology, are members of professional organizations limited to trained specialists in this field, and maintain our competency by active participation in continuing medical education programs.
APPOINTMENTS & SCHEDULE
Office hours are by appointment and our office telephone is answered by our receptionist during regular office hours, 8:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday. When calling to schedule an appointment, please give as much information as possible so that the proper amount of time may be allotted for your visit. Although appointments for routine exams or for the evaluation of long term problems may need to be scheduled several weeks in advance, we reserve time each day to see patients for acute or urgent problems, so please let our receptionist know if you feel that your situation is urgent. If you are unable to keep your appointment we would appreciate your calling to cancel as soon as possible so that we might utilize that time for someone else who may be in need of an appointment.
We try to keep to a schedule as much as possible so that our patients do not have long waits in our office. As a result, if you are late, your appointment will probably need to be rescheduled. Also, if you have a long list of problems and time becomes short, we will ask you to pick out the ones that you want to concentrate on with the understanding that you may have to reschedule for the rest of the list.
Before the appointment please check:
1. Do you need a referral from your primary care provider? Many managed care plans require referrals. If so, please bring your written copy of the referral. Check to see that it has not expired and what health concerns are listed. Referrals are unfortunately limited to those conditions. If you have other concerns, they must be listed on the referral for us to address them.
2. Are you on any current medications? To avoid drug interactions, please bring the names and dosages of any prescription medications that you are currently taking.
3. Do you need to make a co-payment? We request that you be prepared to make a co-payment at the time of your appointment. To make it easier, we accept cash, personal checks, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.
4. Do you have insurance? If so, bring your insurance card (see "Insurance" below). If not, please plan to pay at time of service or call to set up a payment plan.
Insurance
We have contracted with the most common insurance companies in the area. Please verify with bookkeeping that we contract with yours if you have not already done so. We will submit claims for you. Please note that it is your responsibility to know and understand the benefits, limitations, referral and prior authorization requirements of your policy. We find that they change quite often. For non-contracted insurance companies, we will bill them just once as a courtesy, but after that any balance owing is your responsibility. We would be happy to give you a copy of your bill for your records or to submit to your carrier. We currently do not bill for Tricare (CHAMPUS).
Rescheduling / Canceling an Appointment
If you need to cancel or change an appointment, kindly give us 48 hours notice so we can offer the space to another patient. Please be aware that we sometimes need to reschedule appointments due to surgeries and deliveries. Although we regret having to do this, it is the nature of an OB/GYN specialty. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. New patients that fail to come for their first appointment without cancelling will be charged a 50.00 fee to reschedule. We look forward to meeting you.