Your 1st Visit to Our Office
Are you wondering what you’ll experience during your first appointment to Dr. Dieguez’s office? Here in this website you can read all about it, from preparation and procedures to billing and follow up appointments.
Welcome to Dr. Dieguez’s office! We hope that you will find your visit with us an experience like no other doctors’ office visit, one that meets, or better yet, exceeds, your expectations. Our mission is to make sure that you receive the best and most sensitive care available. Attention to your comfort and well-being is assured during every step of the visit to Dr. Dieguez's office. Cutting edge technology such as orthobiologic techniques including Adult Autologous BMC/MSC therapy, PRP and also Prolotherapy for arthritic joints and tendon or ligament injuries, are among the modalities we offer. We also do other precision guided injections.
What do I need to do to prepare for a visit?
1. Provide us with the following information:
You will need to call our office at (904) 824-0955 to request an appointment.
You will need to provide us with your full name and date of birth, and a phone number and e-amail address. The e-mail address is very important so that later we can communicate with you by way of the Internet.
Additionally before your initial consultation, you will need to complete a New Patient pack, which can be downloaded here or we can send it to you by email or regular mail. When you return it to us, the doctor reviews the completed pack, and we will call you in fewer than 24 hours to schedule your new patient consultation.
2. Pain Medications.
If you are taking anti-inflammatory medications such as Motrin, Advil, Aleve or Celebrex, Mobic, BC powder, etc. excluding a baby aspirin, it would be best to stop taking them 2-7 days prior to your first visit. They interfere with the healing process of Prolotherapy and any Orthobiologic procedure such as BMC MSC procedure or PRP. They can also make you more prone to bleeding. One baby aspirin a day is OK to continue taking. So do not stop you baby aspirin.
If you have been taking narcotic medications long term, such as Vicodin, MS Contin, Morphine, Percocet, Fentanyl etc. you should discontinue them but only under the guidance of a physician. Please be aware that we will not be providing controlled substance prescription. We are not a pain clinic!
3. Test Results Reports:
If you have had MRI, X-ray, CT scan or other pertinent lab reports, please let us know ahead of time where you had them done so we can obtain them directly from the facility where they were performed at, before your visit. You can bring any disc or films you may have.
4. Breakfast and lunch:
Unless otherwise instructed, if you are planning an appointment with Dr.Dieguez, eat beforehand. If you have a morning appointment, please eat a good breakfast before coming in, ideally with some protein. If you have an afternoon appointment, you should have had breakfast and lunch before coming in.
Upon your arrival and while at our office
1. Arrival.
Timely arrival will help make your appointment run smoothly. If you experience an unforeseen delay, such as a delayed flight, please notify the office as soon as possible so that we can determine if we can readjust the schedule to accommodate your needs. If you are stuck in traffic, please call our office to see if we can help you plan an alternate better route. We will do everything we can to see you at your appointment time. If you arrive too late we will fit you into the next day schedule.
Dr. Dieguez strives to provide to all our patients timely appointments to make their experience here as pleasant as possible and without undue wait. Patients are important to us and one of the problems that we hear all the time from patients is that at some offices they experience very lengthy waits before they see the doctor or that the doctor is rushed to see them. We want to prevent this from happening in our office.
Our philosophy about patient care is very simple. We strongly believe that patients suffering from any condition require that they be given timely appointments, that the necessary time be spent with them, and that they be treated warmly, with sympathy and understanding. Above all, time spent with the patient is of the outmost importance so that the patient can convey to the doctor what he or she is feeling.
Timely appointments show patients our respect and consideration for the trust they have placed in us. In order for us to accomplish these goals with our patient, we kindly ask that you show us the same respect and consideration by arriving for your appointment at the time instructed. This makes for a pleasant experience not only for you, but also for all our patients and helps us utilize our time in a cost effective way. If you can’t make it to your appointment on time, you need to call us as soon as possible to reschedule your appointment. We sincerely appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
2. Paperwork.
Our receptionists will welcome you to the practice, take your picture for your electronic medical record, familiarize you with the office, and get you started with a bit of initial paperwork/progress reports/vital signs, etc. At each visit, we like to know how our patients are progressing. The doctor will ask you how you are feeling and perform an examination. The goal of these patient progress evaluations, are to better understand and assess your current status and how you are progressing through the treatment course. You will also have time to ask the doctor about any concerns you may have.
Additionally during this initial visit, depending on if your visit is covered by your insurance or not, you will be asked to provide copies of your insurance card and other insurance related information. Please remember that no insurance covers everything and that we do not participate with all insurance companies. On the other hand if your visit or procedure is covered by your insurance and we are participating providers you may have a copay, deductible or co-insurance that you will need to pay at this time.
Also some of the care that we provide is not covered by any insurance. Examples are Orthobiologic medicine procedure such as Autologous BM/MSC Therapy, PRP and also other types of care such as Acupuncture and Prolotherapy. If this is the case, you will be asked to pay at time of the schedule procedure. You can (click here) to see our payment policy and pricing schedule.
3. Your Visit with Dr. Dieguez himself.
During your initial visit with Dr. Dieguez you can rest assured that you will have time to explain to him personally the problem that brings you to our office. Unlike what has become customary in many doctors offices where the patient never see the doctor and has to settle for his physician assistant or a nurse practitioner, at our office Dr. Dieguez himself will see you and obtain a detailed medical history, review your new patient packet, review any lab work or x-ray and do the physical examination. Additionally he will explain to you the diagnosis and also discuss the different alternative as far as treatment options.
If and when a treatment is indicated and scheduled, the doctor will perform the procedure himself with the clinical assistant/nurse helping him throughout your entire treatment procedure. She will take notes to plan with you later any follow up visit, additional treatments or therapy that he may indicate. You will receive written post procedure instructions before discharged home from our recovery area.
Sometimes if the Doctor feels that you are a good candidate for a Orthobilogic procedure such as PRP, BMC/MSC or Prolotherapy , and if it has been prearranged ahead of time, the treatment can be done that same day. This is particularly useful if you have traveled from far away out of town and need to catch a plane back. Complete Orthobiologic BMC/MSC procedures wich cannot be done at the same time as your initial visit due to safety concerns and adequate patient preparation requirement. So plan on two days in St. Augustine if you are coming from far away out of town and are considering this option. Note that same day procedure and two day procedures need to be prearranged with our office. If you are local we can arrange the your Orthobiologic BMC/MSC Therapy procedure at your convenience.
Please it is important that you be aware that specifically Prolotherapy, as you know, implies multiple injections. And yes, they can be painful because they are irritating. However we will do everything within our power to make you comfortable. The treatments go very quickly, so your procedure will be completed before you know it!