Mission & Policies

Hours of Operations

We are open to serve you, answer questions, or schedule an appointment from:

Monday – Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
We are CLOSED between 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. to tend to administrative duties.

After Hours Care

If you are in need of contacting Dr. Palmer or this office before 9:00 a.m., between 2 noon to 2:00 p.m., after 5:00 p.m. or on weekends and holidays, please call our office number (760) 323-4272. Our answering service will pick up your call and relay your message to our on-call staff. All your questions or concerns will be handled accordingly.

Our Mission

The mission of Desert Family Medical Center is to provide personalized, effective, and prompt medical attention to our patients. We know your time is precious, and your health is your most important asset. Our goal is to provide you with efficient and caring medical service in a timely fashion. Our medical providers and staff have been fully trained and educated to assist you with your health concerns, and we constantly keep abreast of new medical issues that affect you and your family. We have created an environment of compassion and professionalism to make your visit as comfortable and pleasant as possible. We look forward to your good health and a long and healthy relationship with you. If you have any questions about our medical office, please feel free to contact us.

Appointments

Your scheduled appointment time has been reserved specifically for you. We request 48-hours notice if you need to cancel your appointment. We are aware that unforeseen events sometimes require missing an appointment. After missing an appointment without notifying us 24 hours in advance, you are subject to being charged a $25 fee, which will be reflected on your account.

For new patients, if you miss your first appointment without notifying us, you will not be able to establish as a patient at this office. For established patients, if you miss 2 appointments in a row without notifying this office, you will be discharged as a patient from this office.

Insurance

Currently, our office does not accept uninsured patients. Your co-payment is required at the time of your appointment. No exceptions, we reserve the right to refuse treatment if we do not receive payment. This office only accepts cash and Mastercard and Visa at this time. We do not accept personal or corporate checks for co-payments. As a service to our patients, we will bill insurance companies for services. After your insurance company pays their portion, you may receive a bill, depending on your insurance policy, from our office for the remainder of your bill. These billing statements are due within 30 days of your receipt. After 90 days, any unpaid portion of the bill will be sent to collections.

You may be discharged as a patient with unpaid balances past 90 days with this office.

OFFICE POLICIES FOR OUR VALUED PATIENTS

The following polices are standard procedure at Desert Family Medical Center:

  1. All patients are required to understand and know their own medical health insurance plans. Desert Family Medical Center is not responsible for any treatments or medications that are not covered by your plan. It is the patient’s responsibility to contact their own insurance companies to make sure about the coverage they are receiving under their policies.
  2. All co-payments are due at the time of the patient’s appointment. We reserve the right to refuse service if co-payment is not rendered. This office only accepts cash, MasterCard and Visa, and money orders for payment. We do not accept checks at this office.
  3. All patient bill balances are due within 30-days of receipt of bill. Patient balances that are over 90-days due will be sent to collections, and this office reserves the right to discharge patients with overdue balances.
  4. If a patient is not able to make their appointment, it is required they contact our office 24-hours in advance. A $25.00 charge will be billed to patients for any missed appointment, if it is not cancelled within 24-hours.
  5. Patients who miss two appointments in a row without informing our office will be discharged from this medical practice.
  6. All patients will be charged a minimum fee of $25.00 for any medical records, medical forms or other forms (i.e. DMV forms, school forms, etc.) that require the doctor/medical provider’s review and/or signature. This fee is due at the time of submitting forms to our office. Longer and more complex forms will be charge at a higher rate to be determined at the time of review. Each form is charged separately, hence one signature per form. There are no exceptions to this situation regardless of patient’s fiscal situation.
  7. Please allow 72 hours for pharmacy refills.
  8. No smoking, drinking of beverages of any kind, or eating in the office.
  9. Please turn off your cell phone during examinations. The doctor/medical provider reserves the right to terminate the examination if patient talks on their cell phone during the examination.
  10. All triplicate prescriptions will be refilled only at the date that is allowed. Early refills will not be permitted. We require 48 hours advance notice for triplicate refills.
  11. This office does not have the equipment or storage space to hold patients' x-rays. We receive patient x-ray reports and can interpret results based on the reports we receive. The reports are stored in your patient chart. We suggest that patients retain their own x-rays.
  12. Desert Family Medical Center has a zero tolerance policy against aggressive behavior, unreasonable expectations, bullying, profanity, and verbal abuse towards our staff from patients and their family members. Any display of this behavior will be subject to being terminated as a patient from this office.
  13. All patients are required to sign a Physician-Patient Arbitration Agreement. Patients who refuse to sign this agreement will be discharged from this medical practice.
  14. This office does not accept uninsured patients. We only accept patients with select PPO and HMO insurances, Medicare with a Part B supplement, and Tricare. If a patient loses his/her insurance we will not be able to continue to serve as your primary care office.
  15. If a patient transfers to another primary care physician’s office for reasons other than reassignment of their insurance plan which this office does not accept or moving to another geographic location away from the Palm Springs vicinity, we will not allow the patient the privilege of returning as a patient at this office.
  16. If patient is over 15 minutes late, your appointment will be rescheduled.

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We are located in
Palm Springs, CA 92262

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