Patient Services

How do I become a patient?

We are not currently accepting new patients.  If you are in need a family doctor you can:

Register online with the Foothills Primary Care Network "Need A Doctor" Website. Your name will be added to a waitlist and you will be contacted when a doctor becomes available.

Our Funding Model

Alberta Health and Wellness pays us differently from other fee-for-service physicians. We receive a monthly fee to provide health care to each person enrolled in CVFP. Our contract with Alberta Health and Wellness stipulates that we provide all of your primary care services. With this in mind, whenever you need medical advice or treatment, we ask that you contact CVFP first, and then Health Link at (403) 943-5465 to arrange for an appointment at the After-Hours Clinic, or with the most appropriate provider, as directed by Health Link. This allows us to provide you with continuity of care, efficiently use all members of our health team, and also be flexible in how we provide services to you.

Walk-ins

CVFP is not a walk in clinic however we do have same day appointments available for emergencies. If a patient arrives at our office without an appointment a nurse may be available to assess; if it is determined that a patient needs to be seen the next available physician will assess.

To provide continuity of care we discourage you from seeking care at a walk in clinic – as your medical home we can provide all of your primary care services. Please contact us directly if you have questions.

Hours of Operation

The clinic hours are 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. We are closed for lunch from 11:50 – 12:50 pm daily.

Possibility Of Being Treated By Another Doctor In The Practice

CVFP is a group practice. And while we always book patients with their own physician when possible, if your own family physician is not available on a given day and you have an urgent medical problem, one of our our other family physicians may see you.

Uninsured Services

Our practice is publicly funded by the provincial government, and you do not pay for the costs of all of your routine medical care. However, CVFP does charge for services which are not medically required and are not covered by provincial health insurance. These are called uninsured services and include things such as form completion, sick notes, and insurance requests. CVFP follows guidelines from the Alberta Medical Association regarding fees for these items. 

No Shows

We expect that you will make every effort to make any appointments that you book at the clinic.  Please provide 24 hours notice to rebook your appointment.

We are a teaching clinic

This will be an academic facility as we expect the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine will train medical students and resident doctors at this clinic. Medical students are trained to take medical histories and perform certain physical examinations. The supervising doctor makes the diagnosis and decides on management with the medical student. Resident doctors see patients with less direct supervision (as they have graduated medical school). A resident doctor can diagnose and treat your condition, and will have a supervisor readily available.

The supervising doctor is responsible to ensure that your problems are accurately addressed. You may be asked to see a medical student or resident doctor and we encourage you to allow them to facilitate us with your care. If you do not want to see a student or resident doctor, please inform the staff or the student/resident and we accommodate your request for that visit.

Lab Results

Once results are in our office, a physician reviews them and will contact any patient who require follow up. Most normal results do not require follow up.

We do not routinely call patients to report normal radiology results. please note it can take up to two weeks for our office to receive reports, other reports and letters from specialists can take up to one month to arrive in our office. All reports are reviewed by a physician and patients are contacted if further follow up is required.

Patients may contact us to see if reports have been received and may request a copy of their results (photocopy fee applies).

Confidentiality

Our patients can expect the highest level of confidentiality from our office. You must provide written, witnessed authorization in order to release your medical information to anyone (even a parent, a counselor, or a spouse), unless you are with the person at the time of disclosure.

Termination

Termination of the physician-patient relationship can be done at any time and can be initiated by either party. If a patient feels that the relationship is not productive, they can seek a new doctor. The Physician can equally decide if the relationship is not therapeutic, and if necessary, will notify the patient.

Late for appointment

We expect that you will make every effort to make any appointments that you book at the clinic, and we will make every effort to see you in a timely fashion. Please note that your appointment may need to be re-booked if you are more than 10 minutes late.

Zero Tolerance for Abuse

We value the work done by our staff and feel that both our staff and patients deserve a respectful environment.  The physicians and leadership have a zero tolerance for abuse of our staff.  Should you have questions or concerns please feel free to bring them forward to your physician who can work with you to address them appropriately.