Healthcare is best delivered when the right patient is matched with the right physician
This matching does not have to happen by accident if expectations are known
9 questions patients should ask doctors:
What is this going to cost me?
-Dr. Jogi has has a self pay fee schedule for patients without insurance, otherwise insured patients will be charged their contracted rates which he would not know off the top of his head but patients can contact the billing department via patient portal for details
Did you wash your hands?
-YES! in office visits, Dr. Jogi washes his hands and has not shaken patient hands since 2014
Can I have a virtual visit with you?
-YES! New and established patients are allowed tele-visits.
Am I going to be safe?
-Dr. Jogi will try his best to keep you safe from the medical-big food- pharmaceutical-insurance industrial complex
Do you have any conflicts of interests for your referrals or orders?
-Dr. Jogi has no allegiances to any hospital or medical group or imaging center or lab location. He will select what is best for the patient. Of note, his wife is a dermatologist that owns Village Dermatology and that may be considered a conflict as he thinks his wife Dr. Reena Jogi and those in her group are excellent.
Who is going to coordinate my care?
-Dr. Jogi can endocrine specific advice and coordination but he does require all patients have a primary care doctor as he cannot function as a PCP
Is this treatment or procedure necessary?
-Dr. Jogi will review all your alternatives if there are any. Please ask him this question
Are you experienced?
-Dr. Jogi has been done with endocrine training since 2009 and has a lot of interest and experience in these disorders: Thyroid disease of all kinds, Type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperparathyroidism and calcium disorders, congenital adrenal hyperplasia. He can also treat but has less of an interest in low testosterone in men, osteoporosis, adrenal diseases, and pituitary diseases. He has little to no experience in transgender medicine or female hormone replacement (menopause) for which he can give excellent referrals.
Can we talk about the end?
-Dr. Jogi would love to discuss the end point of all conditions and what the path to get there will look like for the patient
Communication with Dr. Jogi
Houston Thyroid and Endocrine receives 600-1000 phone calls a week. Health insurers do not reimburse for voice call staffing. Therefore in order to provide excellent responses to your questions, Dr. Jogi requires his patients to communicate with the office in written-form only.
(1) Portal messages: Please use a subject title that summarizes the content of the body. The location of portal is http://www.houstonendocrine.com/patientportal (same day to 2 business day turn around for staff responses, scheduled for MD response with charges). If patient is post operative or newly pregnant please put that into the subject. Use of the patient portal is required and expected for all Dr. Jogi patients.
(2) Faxes : Fax to 713.795.0855 with title "Communication to Dr. Jogi" (1-2 week turn around)
(3) Upload a document with title "Communication to Dr. Jogi" at http://www.houstonendocrine.com/submit-records (3-5 day turn around)
(4) Letters to 6624 Fannin Street Suite 2260. Houston TX 77030. Attention ""Communication to Dr. Jogi" (2-4 week turn around )
Emergencies and urgent communication will generally require a visit to the emergency room.
Primary Care Doctors are required
All patients seeing Dr. Jogi must have a separate primary care doctor. Dr. Jogi does not provide primary care services.
Insurance Verification
Before your first visit we may perform a complimentary insurance benefit verification designed to help you better understand what can and cannot be billed to your insurance company. Please note that some patients will require a PCP referral based on the type of insurance. You can contact our billing department via patient portal. Once we have investigated your benefits, our billing department may contact you via SMS or portal and explain what we have learned. Although we make the best attempt to obtain accurate information from your insurance company, there will be times when the information we are provided conflicts with how the insurance company processes the claims. Therefore, we cannot accept liability for inaccurate information and encourage you to verify our findings with your health plan or employer. We might not be able to give you detailed information about what you may owe until you arrive for your appointment.
New Patients- Videos & Home Work
The online Jogi Specific New Patient Packet must be completed in order to schedule an appointment. Almost all new patients will receive specific home work messages via portal with instructions, homework, and videos created by Dr. Jogi. He expects patients to read through the patient portal messages, watch the videos prior to visits, and be prepared for the visit with questions and concerns after the videos are watched. Specific older records depending on the diagnosis or symptom will be required to be sent prior ahead of visits. SMS messages are sent as reminders but do not serve as the portal. Dr. Jogi does not make phone call visits for any patients as either in-person or virtual secure video visits are the best ways to communicate with him. He expects continual learning from his patients, so start reading.
Established Patients- Videos and RSVP Messaging
Established patients are expected to make appointments to review their concerns and a few days prior to each visit Dr. Jogi will send messages via portal requesting what symptoms or issues are on the patient's mind. Care is not delivered by portal messaging but can begin here. Please note that Patient Portal is the PRIMARY method of communication with Dr. Jogi and he will send messages via patient portal. Please do not let the email alerts go to your spam. Failure by patients to communicate with Dr. Jogi via patient portal is the most common reason patients are dismissed from his clinic. Televisit virtual appointments are encouraged and if done, required vitals signs with an arm (not wrist) blood pressure cuff, he recommends the Omron brand. Also weights from patients are required. Nurse office visits or in person visits with the doctor may be required at times per discretion of the doctor.
Lab order slip policy
Details: http://www.houstonendocrine.com/doctor-orders-and-paperwork
1. We should provide you with a paper copy of all lab and imaging orders at the end of your visit. Patients are expected to retain a copy of these orders. A paper print-out is required at the lab.
2. We will provide a one-time electronic submission of your lab orders at the time of your office visit and give you a paper copy of the order.
3. If you do not have the paper copy when you go to the lab, you must come to the office to pick up a paper copy of your orders. We will not submit orders by fax to any location. We do not mail orders. We will not resubmit electronically.
This is an un-monitored messaging service. Please use one of the above methods to communicate.
No Jerk Policy Enforced
Dr. Jogi runs an office where he expects mutual respect among staff and patients. Patients should expect to follow the below rules
There are two specific tests:
After encountering the person, do people feel oppressed, humiliated or otherwise worse about themselves?
Does the person target people who are less powerful than him/her?
The below behaviors are not tolerated:
NOTE- Dr. Jogi will tell all patients when they should follow up again with him. Best practice is to schedule all appointments as soon as you can. Reminders will be made via portal and SMS only if scheduled. But if patients fail to make appointments within specified time intervals or do not appropriately respond to repeated portal messages and two SMS messages, they will be discharged from the entire clinic after 3 attempts.
No Show Fee Policy
Our goal here at Houston Thyroid and Endocrine, PLLC is to provide quality service to all of our clients in a timely manner. Failure to keep scheduled appointments (“no-show”) is costly to the clinic and you. Patients who are unable to keep their appointments are requested to give more than 1 business day notice prior to their appointments. We realize this is not always possible and the practice will consider each individual case. Providing such notice allows the clinic time to offer other persons the opportunity to see our providers, thus using the time more efficiently. Please also try not to be late to your appointment.
• If an established patient fails to provide notice of a cancellation of their appointment, a $50 fee will be billed to his/her account for each missed appointment
• If a new patient fails to show twice they will incur a $50 no show fee. A third missed visit will result in discharge from the entire clinic
No Lab Fee Policy
If the doctor asks you to schedule a follow up visit in the future they may request you complete blood work to be done 10 days prior to the scheduled visit. These labs are called "Pre-clinic labs". It is very important to have completed the labs ahead of time so that the doctor can give you advice based on those results at the follow up clinic visit. Failure to complete these pre-clinic labs ("no-lab") greatly reduces the value of the clinic visit to the patient.
If a patient does not complete their assigned pre-clinic labs 10-15 days prior to their scheduled appointment we will have you return in a week after the labs are completed.
Patient will be charged for the current visit and for the upcoming visit once labs are available.
We are not responsible for obtaining lab results ordered by a different office. If they are not in your chart at the time of your visit then you will be responsible to obtain them for our clinic
Important Notes/FAQ on lab orders
Do you need a lab order paper?: We would have provided you with the lab order form at your previous visit in most cases. It is best to have the lab order slip in-hand, but you do not necessarily need the paper slip if you are using Labcorp or Quest.
Where do I go for labs?: Use this link to locate the closest laboratory to where you live or work. If your order slip was for Labcorp or Quest then the order is also sent electronically to their systems so that you do not need the lab order slip if it was created within the last 6 months; You should go to one of their lab patient service centers without the lab paper slip since their staff should be able to find your order by your name and date of birth and doctor name if the order was created within 6 months. If you use any other company than Labcorp or Quest you will need a paper copy of the lab order slip in hand when you go have labs done. We usually use Labcorp but if you have Aetna insurance your usually must use Quest.
If you are trying to figure out at which lab your tests are ordered (Quest, Labcorp,other) please check the "Visit Summary" in your patient portal (click "medical records" on the left and then click "Visit Summary". You should be able to see where you should do your future labs.
Is your lab order Out-Of Date?: If your lab order was created more than 6 months ago then it will be expunged from the lab systems so you will need to have a copy of the lab order in hand. You will need to contact our office to "refresh your lab orders" and/or get a copy of the lab slip (e)mailed to you
Are your labs done under another doctors name?: If you ask another doctor outside of Houston Thyroid and Endocrine to do your labs then we will not receive a copy of the results. It will be your responsibility to make sure we have received those lab results prior to your visit.
Do all patients need to do labs?: If you are post operative patient getting labs within 30 days of your surgery we usually do not require labs prior to the visit. In some other instances we may have instructed you to come to a visit without completing labs prior to a visit as they are not needed or were recently done.