======What to do before your first visit======
**Please read this page completely before your first visit**, and follow the instructions here so that we can spend more time on the important part of your consultation, and less time on paperwork.

=====About your first visit=====
Your first visit will probably take an hour and a half. We usually begin with you telling me about the difficulties you are having, then I review your first visit form, then I get some more background history, and finally we decide together on what we should do next.

Your first visit is a consultation, meaning that I need to understand what your difficulty is, whether I think I can help, and whether or not we both feel that we can work together. If I do not think that I am qualified to treat you myself, I will help you find someone who is.

=====About cancellations=====
If you cannot make your appointment, please let me know **at least 48 hours in advance**. I almost always have a waiting list of new patients who want to be seen as soon as possible and I don't have many 90 minute blocks of time in my schedule. I have no office staff, and it is hard for me to reschedule someone else into your scheduled time without 48 hours notice. Please be considerate of my time and that of other patients.


=====Before you begin ...=====
Read the [[potential_patients|frequently asked questions for prospective patients]].



=====Learn about your privacy ...=====
  ***Download** and **read** my [[practice_forms|privacy practices]] document, and
  ***Complete** the [[practice_forms|HIPAA form]].



=====If you have Medicare, please ...=====
  ***Download** and **complete** the [[practice_forms|Medicare opt-out form]].



=====To save you time and money ...=====
  ***Download** and **complete** the [[practice_forms|first visit form]]. This form is the most important because filling it out before the first visit streamlines the paperwork and lets us spend more time focused on you and not on recording things like your telephone numbers, doses of current medications, and allergies.





=====Finally ...=====
  *Please **read** the [[current_patients|frequently asked questions for current patients]], and
  *Bring all the completed forms to your first visit. (Please do not mail or email them to me.)