About Your Visit
Before Your Visit
Before arriving at any of our locations for your appointment, please make sure that you have the following items with you:
- Your insurance card
- A photo ID
- List of all current medications (if applicable)
- Report and film/CD of any MRI or CT (if applicable)
- X-rays taken of your injury or condition (if applicable)
Upon your arrival, a clinic services representative will make copies of your insurance card and ID. After verifying that all information in our database is accurate, you will be provided with all the necessary forms for you to complete and sign. Lastly, they will collect your co-payment.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Dr. Appointment / Visit
We here at Bay State Pain Associates know that it’s more than a little unnerving to go see a doctor about something as critical as a neck, spine or back condition, especially when you are experiencing a great deal of pain. We’ve developed a list of suggestions; things you can do to get the most out of your doctor’s appointment.
Patients Under the Age of 18
A parent or legal guardian must accompany new patients under the age of 18 to their initial visit. The parent or legal guardian may designate another adult to accompany an existing patient during follow-up visits, if it is specified on a Minor’s Consent for Treatment form. This form can be obtained during check-in.
Tips to help you get the most from a visit to your healthcare provider:
Know the reason for your visit and what you want to happen.
1. Research the Doctor
Individuals may choose a doctor because of location, insurance or even the doctor’s sense of humor. It’s important to find a doctor with whom you feel comfortable. This person is a teammate in your health. Maintaining your body requires similar planning to that of finances. A financial advisor is looking out for your interests now, and for years down the road. Find a doctor who can coach you to good health for a lifetime. Ask friends about their experiences.
2. Check with your Insurance
Check with your insurance carrier to make sure your specialist is in the network. If not, check with the insurer and doctor’s office to understand costs associated with a provider out of the network.
3. Schedule
If you’re going to see the doctor for a major concern (symptoms that have persisted, or not been resolved with treatment), let the scheduler know. Otherwise, you might be put into a 10 minute slot that won’t permit enough time for the complex issue.
- Bring someone with you to help you ask questions and remember what your provider tells you.
4. Write Down Questions
Write down your questions and goals. This helps you stay on target. You can squeeze a lot more information out of a 10 minute visit by knowing what you want to cover.
- At the visit, write down the name of a new diagnosis, and any new medicines, treatments, or tests. Also write down any new instructions your provider gives you.
5. Bring Test Results
Even if you think the doctor’s office has your information, already, if you have record of any labs or tests that might offer insight, any new medications that you are taking, bring them along (CD of images and chart notes).
6. Be on Time
If this is a new doctor for you, make sure you have directions and enough time to get to the office. Try to arrive 30 minutes prior to your appointment to fill out paperwork. Our offices will reschedule a patient if they are 15 minutes late. Click here for directions to our office.
7. Bring your Paperwork
Insurance Card, Picture ID, and any paperwork that you were asked to fill out in advance of your appointment. The office should always have an updated copy of your current health insurance card. Also, if you are a new patient, you were sent paperwork for the doctor to examine, in identifying your health issue. Bring that paperwork with you.
8. Ask About Treatments
If it’s unclear, always ask about the side effects, risks and benefits of a treatment. If you have any concerns about a potential therapy, share this with the doctor. Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t understand a treatment, or its risks.
- Know why a new medicine or treatment is prescribed, and how it will help you. Also know what the side effects are.
- Ask if your condition can be treated in other ways.
- Know why a test or procedure is recommended and what the results could mean.
- Know what to expect if you do not take the medicine or have the test or procedure.
- If you have a follow-up appointment, write down the date, time, and purpose for that visit.
- Know how you can contact your provider if you have questions.
9. Stay on Target
If you’ve been suffering for some time, you’ll have a lot to tell the doctor. Emotions might arise while discussing your symptoms. It’s OK. Just remember, you still have to convey your medical history in an efficient manner. If you spend a lot of time revisiting a toe injury from high school, but are there because of heart disease, the doctor could run out of time.
10. Ask About Insurance Coverage
After your appointment and before you approve a treatment, call your insurance company and find out, if that treatment is covered by your insurance. You may not always get a definite answer, but the insurer may be able to direct you to other options, such as a lab or x-ray facility that are contracted with your program or carrier. This could help save you money and stress.
11. Get Copies of Results
Ask for copies of your lab results at your visit. This way, you can keep an accurate health history. The doctor at Bay State Pain Associates have.
12. Relax and Get Your Life Back
The doctor at Bay State Pain Associates have years of experience, have seen cases similar to yours before and have experience in successfully giving patients back their lives.
When Should You Seek a Pain Doctor?
People can be stubborn by nature. It isn’t uncommon for medical professionals to see patients who have been experiencing chronic pain for quite some time but have been treating it at home with over-the-counter medications. However, there are some warning signs that shouldn’t be ignored. Our Pain specialist can talk with you about your chronic pain and help make your life a little easier.
You should seek out a pain doctor if you are experiencing any of the following:
- You can’t sleep. If your physical pain is keeping you from experiencing a good night’s sleep, it is time to seek out a pain specialist. Most acute aches will go away after a period of rest, but chronic pain can persist causing extensive sleeplessness and affecting other areas of your life.
- You are over 50. While many people lament the aging process as a time of aching joints and other chronic pain, it is particularly important to seek medical care after the age of 50 if you’re experiencing pain. As we age, we experience changes in our physiology that will affect muscles, bones and joints. Ignoring symptoms can create larger problems down the road.
- You’ve been in an accident. Automobile and slip-and-fall accidents can be major contributors to chronic pain. Injuries at the time of the accident may have gone undetected but if they continue to be untreated the pain can become a lifelong problem. Seek out a pain specialist to determine the cause and treatment for this type of pain.
- You have pain radiating down one leg. Sciatica is a common but extremely painful chronic condition. If you are experiencing this very specific symptom you should seek out treatment before the condition progresses too much.
- You have more pain when you flex or bend. Often, if pain is acute bending and stretching can help relax the muscles and ease the pain. If bending or flexing is more painful it may mean the condition is chronic and will require additional treatments to allow for a full range of motion.
- Your pain doesn’t go away. If you have been experiencing pain for an extended period of time it may be important to see a physician to understand if the symptoms are chronic or acute. The longer you wait to seek treatment the more difficult it may be to solve the problem. If your pain has lasted longer than three weeks, consider speaking to a professional.
Our Pain Specialist is available to talk to you about your chronic pain symptoms and work with you to develop treatment options and solutions to improve your quality of life.
What Types Of Patients Does a Typical Pain Doctor Treat?
Pain, especially chronic pain, hits all different types of people, but the result for the patient is always similar —frustrating, sometimes debilitating, pain that can affect the patient’s well-being and enjoyment of life activities.
Our pain specialist first focus on identifying the underlying cause of the pain by asking questions and listening to the patient’s concerns. Next, the specialist puts put together a treatment plan specific to the individual patient.
Our pain doctor have experience working with patients suffering from:
-
- Achilles tendinitis
- Arthritis
- Bulging discs
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Degeneration disc disease
- Diabetic peripheral neuropathy
- Extruded discs
- Fibromyalgia
- Hammer toe
- Headaches and migraines
- Heel spur
- Joint pain
- Motor vehicle injuries
- Osteoarthritis
- Phantom limb pain
- Piriformis syndrome
- Plantar fasciitis
- Post herpetic neuralgia
- Post laminectomy syndrome
- Prolapsed discs
- Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
- Rotator cuff tears
- Sciatica
- Scoliosis
- Shingles
- Spinal stenosis
- Trigeminal neuralgia
- Vertebral body and compression fractures
In addition to these specific complaints, our pain doctor have also treated patients with more generalized pain related to cancer and other illnesses, as well as location-specific pain in the back, shoulders, sacroiliac joint, neck, face, pelvis, hips, legs, knees and feet.
STARTING YOUR PAIN TREATMENT JOURNEY!
What Can You Expect After Your Pain Treatment?
WE AIM TO CREATE MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS
A lifetime of support
FEEL LIKE YOURSELF AGAIN
More Confidence
FEEL LIKE YOURSELF AGAIN
Get back to pre-pain you
WE AIM TO REDUCE YOUR SYMPTOMS
More activity
