Frequently Asked Questions

Our office is open Monday through Saturday. Sunday morning hours are available for emergencies only. As our daily schedule is subject to change, please call to confirm office hours.

Yes, we welcome new patients.

Advocare participates with most major insurance plans. As participation varies by region, specialty, and physician, we recommend that you contact either our office or your insurance company representative to verify that your insurance plan is accepted.

We believe our fees to be fair compensation for the services we provide. Fees for after hours, Sunday, and emergency visits, and more complex consultations, are higher than those for regular office hours, while fees for brief follow up visits may be less. Immunizations, injections, and tests are subject to additional charges. Because we do not bill for co-pays, payment is expected at your visit. Please speak to the billing staff or the providers about any special financial problems that you may have or payment arrangements that you need to make. We accept cash, check, and credit cards.

Final responsibility for all medical bills remains that of patients' families. We participate in many insurance plans, including numerous managed care plans. Please contact your insurance company if you have any questions regarding our participation in your plan or if you have any questions regarding your insurance company's coverage.

Please remember to present your insurance card and co-pay at each visit. In accordance with the policies of the health plans we accept, we can treat patients without proper insurance identification only in emergency situations.

Our providers are happy to meet with you to discuss our office philosophy and answer your questions. Please call our office to schedule an appointment. There is no charge for this visit.

Our routine health maintenance visit schedule follows the American Academy of Pediatrics vaccine guideline for children.

To help protect your child from many serious infectious diseases, we follow the immunization schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Please discuss your immunization questions and concerns with any of our pediatricians.

We will be happy to complete any forms for shot records, school, or camp if your child has been seen in our practice for a complete well checkup within the past year. Note that there is a fee for this service. If your child has not received a well checkup within 12 months, an appointment for a well visit will be required. Please make sure that your child's name and birth date are written on each form and that all sections are completed. Let the staff know if any special tests or requirements are needed. As our providers cannot process the form at the visit, it may take up to five to seven working days for these forms to be completed. We are happy to provide you with a record of your child's immunizations within three to five working days from your request.

Our medical providers are available 24 hours a day. Call the office at (856) 879-2887 or (856) 467-6660 and follow the prompts to page a provider on call. Please be aware that after-hours calls are intended for urgent medical issues that cannot wait until the next business day. Referral and appointment requests will not be addressed via pager. Pages are typically returned within 15 minutes. Please call back if you have not received a timely response.

IN THE EVENT OF A LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY, CALL 911.

If you have non-emergency questions regarding your child's health care, please call during regular office hours. Our triage nursing staff will determine whether your questions can be answered by phone or if your child should be seen by a medical provider. All phone calls and advice are reviewed by one of our physicians or nurse practitioners. You always have the option to speak with a provider.

We believe that it is medically inappropriate and even dangerous to prescribe medication without first examining your child. Our physicians and nurse practitioners make few exceptions to this policy.

Every effort is made to arrange your child's well care and follow up visits with the physician of your choice. When your child is ill, he or she may see any one of our physicians.

If our doctors have referred your child to a specialist, schedule your appointment with the specialist prior to contacting our office for your referral.

For non-urgent referrals: when one of our doctors refers you to a specialist, please schedule your appointment with the specialist, then call our office within five business days of your appointment. Your referral will be available within 72 hours. Most referrals are completed electronically and submitted directly to the specialist's office. Please check with our office staff to determine if your insurance plan processes referrals electronically.

For urgent referrals: when one of our doctors determines that you need an urgent referral, your referral will be initiated immediately. Please remain in our office while your referral is processed, then proceed to your specialist.

Critically ill patients and children with unusual or specialized problems may be referred to specialists at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Cooper Medical Center, A.I. duPont Hospital for Children or other specialized pediatric facilities.

It is always best to have a parent or legal guardian accompany their child for the visit, especially for well checkups or follow up visits, as the provider may ask specific questions or require consent which only the parent or legal guardian can provide.

Please be on time for appointments as this allows us to minimize your waiting time. For the first appointment, please arrive at least 15 minutes earlier than your appointment in order to complete new patient forms. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled appointment, you may be asked to reschedule. Occasionally, if the doctors are delayed by an emergency, your appointment may be postponed or delayed at the last minute. We apologize for this occasional inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding that emergencies require urgent care.

If you must cancel or reschedule an appointment, please give us as much notice as possible, so that other patients may utilize the time. There may be a charge for missed or non-cancelled appointments. If multiple appointments are missed during a given period, you will be notified of these missed appointments. As this is disruptive to other patients, you may be asked to transfer from the practice if you continue to miss appointments.

You will receive a call quickly with any lab results that require urgent attention. Other abnormal lab results will be addressed promptly by the provider that ordered the labs or tests. Normal values are usually not reported, however, you are welcome to call our office to request a copy of your results.

Please call our office and follow the prompts for our prescription refill line. Allow one business day for all routine prescription refills. For prescriptions that require prior authorization from your insurance company, please plan ahead to allow at least three to five days for refill approval.

Our doctors have privileges at these New Jersey hospitals: Inspira Health Network (formerly Underwood Memorial Hospital) in Woodbury and Virtua Health Systems in Voorhees. Please notify the hospital and your obstetrician that you have selected our pediatric practice. When you deliver your baby, the hospital will notify our on call doctor so that we may evaluate your baby at the hospital.

As your child approach's their 18th birthday and becomes a legal adult, their parents or legal guardian(s) are no longer considered their legal representative. Under state law and federal HIPAA regulations, your child may consent to their own medical care and control their own medical records and information. This means that we can no longer share their records or any medical information about them with you, or anyone else, without their written permission. We ask that your child review and complete the Disclosure and the New Patient Forms before their next visit.

We recommend that your newborn be seen in our office the first week after discharge from the hospital. Our staff understands the importance of this first visit and will make every effort to schedule this visit promptly.

Yes, we promote breastfeeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding babies for the first six months. Breastfeeding helps defend children against infections, prevents allergies, and protects against a number of chronic conditions. While experts believe that breast milk is the best nutritional choice for infants, breastfeeding may not be possible for all women. Some women have specific medical considerations that impede breastfeeding; others choose to feed by formula because of discomfort, work schedule, or lifestyle choices. In these cases, an iron-fortified infant formula is a good alternative. We will gladly discuss your diet and feeding concerns at your child's well care visit, or please call during office hours to speak with our experienced nursing staff.

We usually recommend starting with a mild formula such as Similac®. If your family members or your other children have a known history of lactose intolerance, we suggest starting with a soy formula such as Isomil®. In general, a newborn will take about 0.5 to 1.5 ounces per feeding every two to three hours, then will slowly increase to about three ounces per feed over the next week. A general rule of thumb is that a newborn infant should be consuming two to three ounces per pound of body weight per day. Please remember that infants under at least four months old should never be offered cereals or baby foods.

Breastfed babies should be burped after each breast. If your baby burps during feeding, you may need to interrupt feeding sooner for burping. Bottle fed babies should be burped every half-ounce to one ounce of formula. Keep the baby upright after all feedings of 15-20 minutes.

In the first few days after birth, newborn stools are called meconium stools (they look like tar). After about 24 hours, transition stools will look like a brownish-color paste before becoming a normal "seedy" stool that is yellow-brown in color. Newborns will have bowel movements very frequently during the first few days, usually after every feeding. Stools may start to slow to one per day to every other day when babies are formula fed. Breastfed infants usually make mustard-yellow "seedy" stools after every feeding; these stools may sometimes appear mucousy. After one to two months of age, breastfed infants may only stool once every two to three days. Please call the office if you have any questions about stooling patterns, and inform us immediately if you see any blood in the stool.

It is not unusual for your baby to spit up occasionally. However, persistent and/or forceful vomiting is not normal. If you ever see blood or green (bile) in the emesis, call us immediately!

As all children are different, we advise following several appropriate steps to advance your child's diet based on age and development. Please discuss these steps with our providers at your well care visit.

The umbilical cord served a very important purpose while your child was in the womb. Once your baby is delivered and the cord is cut, the remaining stump will take a few weeks to fall off. Using a clean cotton ball or cloth, apply rubbing alcohol to the stump with every diaper change. Remember to pull up on the cord and create traction with each alcohol application. As the cord separates it may ooze yellow or bleed slightly, or have a foul odor. Watch for any redness around the belly button. Please call us with any concerns.

We recommend that you delay immersion baths until the umbilical cord falls off. Until then, you may sponge bathe your baby. It is not necessary to bathe your newborn every day; two to three times per week is sufficient. However, you should the wash face and genital region daily. Wash baby's hair once or twice per week.

A temperature in an infant of less than three months old is a serious matter; please call us immediately. We consider a temperature of 100.5? F or greater a true fever in this age group. Ear thermometers are not accurate under the age of three months. A rectal thermometer is the most accurate way to check the temperature of babies under three months old. Apply Vaseline® to the bulbous tip of a rectal thermometer and insert it into the rectum just beyond the thermometer's metal tip; hold it in the baby's rectum for two to three minutes to get an accurate reading.

Crying is a very normal form of communication for infants. Infants can only communicate by crying. You will, over time, begin to distinguish whether your baby is crying from hunger, boredom, pain, fatigue, a wet diaper, or other reason.

Some babies cry because of colic. No one knows for sure what causes colic, but it usually appears as a bout of crying that occurs at about the same time each day. Colic may start at about two to four weeks of age and may last until the baby is about three to four months old. Different methods of coping with colic include swaddling;l giving baby a pacifier; rocking baby with a gentle motion or vibration; playing soft, constant sounds such as “white noise,” soothing baby in a warm bath, or taking baby for a car ride. Always call our office with your questions or concerns. If breastfeeding, you may need to discuss potential dietary changes. If bottle feeding, a formula change may help relieve colic.

Your obstetrician, with your consent, will complete this procedure. As the circumcision heals, it will form a yellow/green substance called granulation tissue, otherwise known as “nature's Band-Aid." Very rarely do circumcisions become infected; if they do, they become very red and swollen several days after the procedure. Cover the circumcised area with a thin layer of Vaseline® until it's healed. This protects the area from adhering to the diaper. After three to four days, you may stop applying the Vaseline®; then keep the area clean with mild soapy water and rinsing. Please call us with any questions.

Female infants sometimes develop a white discharge from the vaginal opening. The discharge may turn pink or mildly bloody (as a mini-period). This normal phenomenon is related to hormone withdrawal and may last up to a week. It is not necessary to do anything, but please call us if you have any concerns.

It is not unusual in the first months of life to see some extra tearing and mild discharge from one or both eyes; this is usually associated with blocked tear ducts. In a majority of cases, massaging the tear duct three to four times a day with a warm wash cloth will help open it up and relieve the tearing or discharge. If the eye should become increasingly red, and/or the lids should swell, please alert us. If cloudy or yellow discharge persists for more than two days, we should evaluate your child.