FAQs
You’ve Got Questions - We've Got Answers
Where are you located?
We are located on New Britain Road in Berlin, in between McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. New Britain Road is across the bridge into Berlin, an extension of the same road where Schaller Honda and New Britain Baseball Stadium are located.
What if I need care when the office is closed?
A doctor is always on call when the office is closed. Dr. Chorzepa is happy to answer your urgent questions after hours. However, after-hours access is for urgent matters. Please call the office during business hours to address routine health care needs, for prescription refills and for questions that can wait till the next business day. If Dr. Chorzepa is away on vacation, or off for the weekend, calling the office will get you access to the on-call physician for your urgent care needs.
Remember, if you have a medical emergency, you should go directly to the nearest emergency room or call 911.
What is your appointment policy?
· We encourage you to schedule an appointment for your routine visits before walking out of our office after a visit. Our first appointments of the day and appointments after 3 pm fill up at least 2-3 months ahead of time. Please call as far ahead of time as possible if your schedule requires late day or early morning appointments.
· Please understand that for Dr. Chorzepa to stay on schedule, we discourage walk-ins except for urgent issues. If you walk in with an urgent issue, please know that we will make every effort to get Dr. Chorzepa to see you as quickly as possible. However, that often means waiting for a slot to open up due to a no-show or at the end of the day in all fairness to our patients with scheduled appointments. Be prepared to wait and we will do our best.
· Finally, please understand that while time does not permit us to reach out to our patients to inform them of a delay, you are very much welcome to call approximately 30 minutes before your visit, so that we can advise you if Dr. Chorzepa is running on schedule. You are welcome to call for such a status anytime to avoid waiting.
What is your missed appointment policy? What is your cancellation policy?
Missed appointments and appointments cancelled less than 24 hours in advance impact our ability to provide health care to you and can limit the availability of appointments for other patients. A pattern of missed appointments may result in our no longer being able to provide care for you. We provide reminder calls before your appointment as a courtesy,but not receiving a reminder call does not excuse a missed appointment. You are responsible for remembering scheduled appointments. One missed appointment or an appointment cancelled at the last minute is understandable on rare occasions and therefore, the first occurrence is excused of either. If you cancel at the last minute OR miss an appointment after the initial “free pass” you will incur a $50 charge for each instance.
What should I expect at my first visit?
On your first visit you will meet Dr. Chorzepa, recount your medical history and other information and have a physical exam. Please bring a list of any medications you are taking, including over-the-counter and herbal preparations. A family member or caregiver is always welcome to come with you. Remember, however, that your physician may ask very personal questions. It is important that you answer these questions honestly and fully as the answers may have important implications for your care. Please remember that upon arrival you will need to register with the front desk, complete paperwork and pay any applicable co-payments (if you have one) as per your insurance contract. All co-payments are due before your visit. We do accept cash, check and credit cards. We also have an online payment portal for any bills.
What is an Internal Medicine doctor?
Doctors of Internal Medicine focus on general adult medicine. They care for patients from the teen years through old age. Internists have special training that focuses on the prevention and treatment of adult diseases.
What is a Primary Care Physician and why do I need one?
Your primary care physician (PCP) is your partner for health and your partner through the health care system. Their job is to educate, advise and guide you with all of your health care needs. Having a PCP is important because he or she can determine when you need to see a specialist, help you find the right specialist, and coordinate all of your care. Many health care insurers require a referral from your PCP before you can see a specialist. Dr. Chorzepa takes pride in his role as your primary care provider/physician.
What insurances do you accept?
We DO NOT participate in United HealthCare Medicare Advantage HMO, Connecticare Passage Plan and we do not take new patients with Oxford Health Plan. We do however accept MOST major health insurance and managed-care plans. We do on occasion close our panel to certain insurers so please be sure to check with us to be sure we participate in YOUR insurance plan by contacting our office directly. Also please familiarize yourself with your insurance plan, especially regarding co-pays, referrals, and emergency care. We will attempt to help you whenever possible, however, with the sheer number of insurers and plans on the market, it is simply impossible for us to be knowledgeable about each plan. Please understand, you have one health insurer/plan, it is in your best interest to familiarize yourself with it as much as you can.
What if I need urgent care?
We help treat acute problems such as coughs, flu, sore throats, stomach ache, sprains, and other common medical complaints. When you are sick, please call the office. We will make every possible attempt to see you. If you have a medical emergency, you should go directly to the nearest emergency room or call 911. Before going to the Emergency Room for something you do not believe is life-threatening, please call our office and give us the opportunity to triage you. If at all possible, we will try to get you in to see Dr. Chorzepa and see you at our earliest available appointment slot.
What is an Emergency you might ask? Go to the ER or call 911 for:
Major trauma.
Chest pain.
Difficulty breathing.
Stroke.
Head trauma.
Neck or spine injury.
Severe bleeding.
Seizures lasting more than 2 minutes.
Severe burn.
Vision loss.
Choking.
An electric shock or struck by lightning.
How can I get a prescription refill?
For prescription refills, please call the pharmacy directly or if you prefer, contact our office approximately a week before you run out of medication. We will process all routine prescription refills within 2 business days. For some medications, the refill process can take longer, so please plan ahead.
ALL controlled medications will require an appointment. Due to various issues within the community and the industry, new guidelines dictate direct us to strict oversight of controlled substances and therefore Dr. Chorzepa has asked that patients requiring a controlled substance refill contact our office at least 7 days prior to needing a refill so that an appointment can be made in time. Few if any exceptions will be made to this policy.
What if I need a referral to a specialist?
You may contact our office and place a request for a referral, if you have already consulted Dr. Chorzepa about this problem previously. Otherwise, it is important to schedule an appointment with our office to have a discussion regarding your health problem and available treatment options.
What happens when your office refers me to a specialist
If you were referred, our office will contact both the insurer (if necessary), and the physician we are referring you to within a business day of your appointment. It is standard procedure for most specialists to then contact the patient with information about their appointment with the specialist. If you have not heard from the specialist within 2-3 business days, please contact our office to alert us, since we do not control the process at the consultant's office. We will be happy to give you contact information for that office or to check on it ourselves, depending on the situation.
For any questions please call us at (860) 893-0300
How will you contact me regarding any studies or lab work I get done?
Generally, Dr. Chorzepa will send you a letter in regard to the results of any studies or lab work within 10-14 days of receiving your results. This letter will tell you to either contact our office to discuss the studies/labs further, or that everything is fine and that he will see you at the next regular visit. We will be transitioning to notifying patients of laboratory results via HIPAA compliant text in the near future for those patients who prefer that mode of communication. However, on occasion, Dr. Chorzepa will give a call with the results if he finds it necessary to have a quick phone conversation or wants to see you soon. However, to err is human; over the years, there have been only a handful of instances when the results were never received by our office. Please do not assume everything is fine if you have not heard from our office. If within 2 weeks or so you do not hear from us via mail or phone, please call to inquire about your results. We do our best to track results but want you to know that it is rare for us NOT to contact you if only to say that everything is fine.
Can I email or text your office regarding any issues?
The answer to this is yes and no. We text using an app to remind patients of their appointments and related appointment matters. It is a 2-way texting application so you are welcome to respond with an answer or even question. However, understand that patients in the office and those calling our office will get our attention first. So if you do not hear back from us in a satisfactory amount of time, understand that we are busy taking care of patients and have been unable to respond to your question due to time limitations and the situation at hand. Please call with your question if it cannot wait. The same is true of emails. Our email address is administrator@drchorzepa.com. Any administrative matters can be referred to this email, such as sending us copies of insurance cards, or medical forms you will need at your appointment or requests for a routine appointment (one that is not urgent), etc. However, clinical matters will not be addressed in an email or a text at the present time. Dr. Chorzepa is quite busy during the day with patients and cannot redirect his attention to an email or a text of a clinical nature. Please understand that this is to recognize that a patient's appointment time with Dr. Chorzepa is precious and he wants to direct his focus to the patient in the office exclusively. We believe this is a courtesy that each patient deserves.
Please call our office to schedule an appointment to discuss such matters or if the question is urgent, please call to ask for assistance/direction. If you do direct a question to us on email or text, please know that once it is seen by staff who is not actively involved caring for patients, we will get back to you and schedule an appointment to discuss the matter with Dr. Chorzepa. Our office policy is to give our attention in this order: 1. Patients in our office 2. Patients on the phone 3. Patients contacting via text. 4. Patients contacting us via email. Thank you for your understanding.
Have a question we haven’t answered? Contact us at (860) 893-0300