FAQ's
Yes, we are primary care providers. We are able to provide care for routine medications, illness, small surgical procedures, sutures and minor injuries.
To obtain medical records from your previous doctor, you will need to fill out a medical records request form so we can fax or mail it to them. After we send the request, they will send us your records. We can only give you copies of medical records that are from our office.
Each visit may vary. There are different costs if you are a new patient or an established patient. Also, depending on your illness, we may need to order lab or x-ray tests. Please call us so we can give you a close estimate.
Yes. We can see you if you cannot get in with your regular doctor. Please bring your medications in with you so we can get all of your medications you are currently taken. We will be happy to send the records for your visit with us to your regular doctor. You do not have to choose us as your regular doctor to be seen.
We will be happy to send your records to your regular doctor. You would need to sign a release of information for us to send them. Also, we can send your records and labs via direct message if your provider has direct messaging or you can sign up for our patient portal and you can access your records.
Our CARES physicians believe babies and small children should have a regular pediatrician to follow growth curves and immunizations. Although, we are not their primary pediatrician, we see children 6 months of age and older.
We offer immunizations for older teens and adults. We do not give routine immunizations to babies and children. We are unable to give out blue forms but we can give you all the information to obtain one if we see your child for their immunizations for high school or college entrance. We do not keep MMR in stock but we do keep meningitis, hepatitis A and B, tetanus, tdap, shingles, TB skin test, gardasil, pneumonia and flu vaccines in stock. Our Occupational Medicine department may have more vaccines as the companies that use our services may require us to give certain vaccines to their employees.
At CARES, we strive to help anyone that needs to be seen. If you make monthly payments on accounts we are able to work with you on being seen with an outstanding balance. We do have to collect the balance up front if you have not made payments or arrangements to pay. If an account is in collections, we will be happy to see you but will need to bring the account up to date at that time.
An appointment is not necessary. We do take 8-10 appointments a day, but an appointment is not necessary to be seen.Walk in’s are welcomed. We do have an Occupational Medicine department that does take appointments. A DOT physical will need to be scheduled through Occupational Medicine.
We usually have a physician schedule. Please call to check with the front desk to find out which doctor will be in the office that day. These schedules are made monthly and are subject to change, but they allow us to let you know when the physician you want to see is scheduled. Both clinics have access to all of your records with CARES.
Insurance companies mandate that we collect co pays from any patient seeing the physician. If you are returning for labs or injections only and do not need to see the physician, we will not charge you a co-pay unless your plan has a co-pay or deductible for labs, x-rays or injections.
As a general rule, we cannot predict when we are going to be busy. As a walk in clinic, it is difficult to know how many people will come in. However, each office has a pattern. Anniston seems to slow down around 2pm and 5pm. Oxford seems to be slow between 1pm and 4pm. We strive to give our patients the best care and keep you from having a long wait.
We will be happy to let you know how busy we are at the time you call but the number of patients in the clinic can change at any minute. We will strive to keep your wait time as short as possible. We know our patient’s time is important. We appreciate your patience when a patient with an emergency comes in. Also, we have a different track for our Occupational Medicine and Weight Loss Program.
We give samples as we can. Some medications do not have samples or we may be out of them. We try to help in any way we can. There are some programs available for patients that cannot afford their medicine. Please let the nurse know if you need assistance.
Unfortunately, we are not Medicaid providers. We are unable to see patients that have Medicaid.
We will answer questions in between seeing patients. We routinely look over phone messages several times a day.The fastest way to have your questions answered would be to use the patient portal. Sometimes when our patient volume in the clinic is high, we are unable to look at messages until that evening. We strive to answer questions within 24 hours.
CARES is not a reference laboratory like Labcorp or Quest. Due to federal guidelines, we draw only labs that are ordered by a CARES physician.
We have an extensive lab and x-ray operated by certified staff. This helps us have your results when we see you. Some tests may need to be sent to a reference laboratory. When we receive the results, our CARES physician will review them and you will be notified. This usually takes about 3 – 5 days, however some tests may take longer. Any x-rays, MRI, Ultrasounds or CT scans are called within two days after we receive your results. Please call or login to the patient portal to check on results if we have not called you.
Once we make an appointment for you, you will have the information to call and cancel or reschedule for a better time for you. If you have any problems obtaining another appointment, please contact us so we can help you.
Sometimes, the lab test is needed to diagnose or treat a medical problem is one we need to send out to a reference lab. If we do that, you or your insurance will receive a bill from Labcorp or Quest.
We welcome and appreciate feedback from our patients. We strive to meet all of our patient’s needs. Please contact Dina, Business Office Manager, at 256-741-1339, or Brandi, Clinical Nurse Manager, at 256-835-0076 with any problems or suggestions.
We will be happy to check your blood pressure, however, if your blood pressure is elevated or too low, we will need you to be evaluated by our physician. Many of the local Fire Departments will check your blood pressure for you at no charge
Work or school excuses are part of your visit. We provide those for you at the time of visit. Forms filled out for companies require time and research by our staff. We charge a $10 fee for filling out FMLA papers. All disability forms are paid by the company that requests them
We will be happy to see you. We can give you an estimate of the cost prior to your visit, but this may change depending on your need for lab testing or x-rays.
Chronic pain requires specialized care. We will be happy to help you find a physician that is a provider for pain management. Also, most pain clinics require that you do not have any other narcotics prescribed by another physician while in their care.
Please notify us by email, phone, fax or at the time you sign in that your information has changed. It is important that we are able to get in touch with you to provide care. Please review your contact information at each visit to make any needed changes.
We do not usually see patients in the hospital. Dr. Grana sees any of CARES patients in the hospital that we admit. If you have a primary care doctor, we can contact them to let them take care of you in the hospital if you would prefer to see them. Some hospitals have a hospitalist that will see you if you do not have a certain physician you wish to see
Yes, Dr. Reddy will see patients at Stringfellow and Dr. Grana will see patients at RMC. You can choose any hospital you prefer. We will be happy to show you a list of hospitals in the area.
Yes, C.A.R.E.S. wants to make sure we have appropriate time to treat all of our patients withthe best medical care possible. In order to achieve this goal, we ask that you sign in to be seen no later than 1 hour prior to closing time. If you need to be seen during the last hour of operational hours, there will be a $30 late fee due at the time of service.
To provide you with the best care, ALWAYS bring your medicine bottles for EVERY visit. These bottles should include all your prescription meds, vitamins, herbs,and any other OTC meds. If a medicine requires refrigeration, then just bring the exact name and dose of that medicine and leave med at home in refrigerator.
