Information for New Patients

When should I come to the appointment?

• We request ALL new patients to arrive at the office at least 1 hour BEFORE their scheduled appointment. After you fill out the required paperwork, the office staff needs to enter all the information into our computer system before you can be seen by the physician.
• Arriving early will ensure that all paperwork and computer entry issues are completed before your scheduled appointment time. Otherwise, your consultation time will be delayed.

What paperwork will I have to fill out?

• You will be asked to fill out a “Registration” form, and a “Medical History” form.
• To minimize your office wait time, you may wish to download all the necessary registration forms, and bring the completed forms with you.

What should I bring to the office?

• To make the registration process easier, please bring ALL your medications with you. Also, bring your insurance card and your drivers license for identification purposes. We will make copies of these cards.
• If you have had any MRI scans, CT Scans, or any other X-rays which might be relevant to your condition, please bring the ACTUAL FILMS or CD of any imaging studies, paper copies of imaging reports, and paper copies of prior medical records with you on your visit (we will scan your medical records into our EMR system).
• Please do NOT drop off the films at the office prior to your visit.

Identification and Insurance Cards

• You must bring your current insurance card, as well as a valid government issued picture ID, such as your driver’s license, your passport, a state-issued-ID, etc.
• Per federal insurance laws, we must verify the identification of the patient. We will make copies of the insurance card and your picture ID. Without proof of insurance coverage or valid picture ID, we will not be able to see you as a patient.

What notes do we need before your office visit?

• You MUST make sure any and all relevant office notes from your primary care physician (PCP) are faxed or mailed to our office prior to your visit.
• If you have previously seen a different Neurologist, we must be forwarded all those notes before an appointment can be made.

If you are a minor, or if you are a student…

• If you are less than 18 years old or if you are still a student, you MUST be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Who will be allowed into the exam room?

• If you are an adult, then only the patient and immediate next of kin, will be allowed into the exam room (unless another family member is needed for medical reasons).
• If you have small children, PLEASE make other arrangements for them, as they will NOT be allowed into the exam room.
• If you are being seen thru Worker’s Comp, we will only allow the patient in the exam room.

What about my medications?

• Please bring ALL you medications to the office. Depending on the situation, Dr. Athni may want to see the actual meds.

Who will be performing the Neurological Evaluation?

• Our office does NOT use a “Physician Assistant” or a “Nurse Practitioners”.
• Your visit will be a comprehensive one. Please do not expect Dr. Athni to just “read the old notes”. He will expect you to answer all questions in full detail.
• The Neurological Evaluation is usually done in 3 parts:
  • (1) an initial evaluation and neuro exam will be performed by an upper level medical student or medical resident, followed by
  • (2) a prolonged private discussion (sometimes 45 min to hour) between Dr. Athni and the student / resident, followed by
  • (3) another detailed assessment by Dr. Athni
• Due to this comprehensive process, be prepared to spend 2-3 hours in the office.
  • PLEASE NOTE: Although you will have filled out the registration forms, Dr. Athni will be re-asking many questions about your “past medical history” in great detail.

• If you are being seen thru Worker’s Comp, we will only allow the patient in the exam room.
• If a NCM or Adjustor wants to meet with Dr. Athni, they will need to schedule a separate appointment with the front office.

• If you are an adult and are being seen thru your private insurance or Medicare or Tricare, we will allow your spouse into the exam room (immediate next-of-kin)
• For ANYONE ELSE, we will need a notarized Medical Power-of-Attorney (Medical POA) stating the third-party is allowed to be involved in the patient’s care.  This would include friends or a parent of a patient or an adult child of a patient.

• This is a standard practice in Psychiatric offices.  Although we are not treating Psychiatric illnesses, many of our patients have cognitive and neurodegenerative issues.  To make sure decisions are being made in the best interest of the patient, we require such a POA.  Even if you do not have any issues which involve your cognitive abilities, we have one policy for all patients.

• We hope you understand the rationale for this policy.  We are merely trying to make sure unauthorized people (who may not have the patient’s best interest) are not involved in medical decisions.

Before your initial office appointment, we request that you fill out our “New Patient Registration” form.

Click on the this link to access the form.

If you DO NOT have an appointment with our office, please DO NOT fill out the registration form. It will be ignored and not processed.

After completion, the form will be sent to our office for processing, This will make your initial office visit a bit smoother and faster.

On the day of your consultation, please remember to bring the following:

• Driver’s License
• Insurance Card for current year (not needed for WC)
• Hard copies of any and all medical records you have not yet sent to us.