Appointment Policy
Purpose: To ensure patients have access to care when needed by maximizing the utilization of available appointments.
Making of Appointments: Appointments can be made through department scheduling or can be requested through the Patient’s Portal. When calling to make an appointment, please call (308)-754-4421 and ask for the specific department scheduling desk. Patients wanting to request an appointment for HCMC providers only, can do so through the patient portal app, or by going to hcmc.us.com, For Patients, Patient Portal.
Appointment Time/Types: All outpatient departments make appointments for specific procedures or examinations. When scheduling the appointment, the healthcare staff will give you specific time and instructions based on the appointment you are requesting.
The Medical Staff requests the schedulers ask certain questions to be best prepared to have a quality appointment. The schedulers are given guidelines by the Medical Staff on time and length of appointments based on the information they are given by the patient.
Cancellations: Please provide a courtesy call during business hours, 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM, of changes or cancellations to appointments. Ideally cancellations should be made at least 24 hours prior to an appointment.
Late for Appointments: Patients are considered late five minutes past their scheduled time. For example, a 9:00 AM patient is late at 9:05 AM. Patients who fall in this timeframe (9:00 AM - 9:05 AM) and have labs scheduled as well as the appointment will be asked to go see the provider first. Patients will then wait to get their labs completed after they see the provider and will be called with results.
Patients who arrive more than five minutes late, meaning six minutes or more after their scheduled appointment time, will be informed that they are late and that it will be at the discretion of the provider whether they are able to see the patient.
No-Show Guidelines: A No-Show is someone who misses an appointment without cancelling in advance. Failure to show up for a scheduled appointment will be recorded as a “No Show”. A “No-Show” letter will be sent to the patient reinforcing the ‘No-Show’ Policy.
Howard County Medical Center reserves the right to end the care provider-patient relationship if the patient continues to “No-Show” for appointments.
