BAPMG News
Exciting changes are coming to BAPMG
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 23:06
February 22, 2010
Dear Parent,
Exciting changes are coming to Bay Area Pediatric Medical Group (BAPMG)! On April 1, 2010, the physicians of BAPMG will join forces with leading primary and specialty physicians in northern and central San Mateo County to form a multi-specialty medical group. This new group will be affiliated with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF). Like us, PAMF enjoys a long history of providing top-quality care for Peninsula residents.
Our office locations, office hours, and staff will remain unchanged. We will continue to offer inpatient services at both Mills-Peninsula and California Pacific Medical Center hospitals, and when appropriate, at UCSF and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. We will also continue to offer lab and x-ray services at a variety of sites near our offices, including both local hospitals and independent labs.
Since BAPMG was founded by Dr. Sheldon Gross over thirty years ago, our goal has been to provide personalized, high-quality medical care in a welcoming environment for you and your family. By affiliating with PAMF we can continue to do so while offering new and expanded services to enhance your child’s health and well-being. With the expanded and integrated service that a multi-specialty medical group can provide, we will be where you need us, when you need us, in your local community.
You will notice a change in our billing process during this transition. After April 1, bills for our services will come to you on a PAMF statement, whereas bills for patient services prior to March 31 will come from BAPMG. Our current staff will handle the billing process both before and after the transition. We will continue to participate in all major insurance plans, PPOs, and the major HMOs. Your current BAPMG doctor will continue to be your child’s primary physician unless we notify you in a separate letter that you need to take action to change your medical group affiliation.
We expect this transition to be seamless, but if you have any questions our staff and doctors will be happy to answer them. We look forward to continuing to care for your family. See you soon!
Sincerely,
The Physicians and Staff of Bay Area Pediatrics Medical Group
H1N1 Vaccine Recall
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 21:00
Today (December 15th 2009) we were notified by the CDC that there is a voluntary recall of certain lot numbers of H1N1 preservative-free injectable vaccine for 6-35 month old infants.
The recall is based on concerns that the vaccine lots may not be as effective as other lots. There are no concerns about safety, purity or contamination. The CDC has determined that the vaccine lots in question will be effective enough so that no repeat vaccination will be required. CalPanFlu.org (statewide coordinator for H1N1 distribution) reported that only one of the four recalled lots (UT030CA) was distributed in California. Approximately 160 providers received 47,800 doses.
Each BAPMG office is examining its current stocks of vaccine to determine if any of the questionable lots are in our current inventory and if so will be returning those doses to the CDC. We also are having our electronic records reviewed to see if we have administered any of the lots in question.
We will notify the parents of any patients who may have received recalled vaccine from BAPMG.
Again, beyond notification, no specific action needs to be taken. No extra doses of vaccine will be required other than previously planned second doses.
Please see the CDC Q&A for further information.
Influenza update Dec 15, 2009
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 20:56
Breaking News: Some Infant-dose H1N1 Vaccine Recalled
Influenza activity continues to be declining over the past two weeks. The illness so far continues to be mild in the majority of cases. The vast majority of proven influenza disease in the community continues to be H1N1. We have not seen any seasonal influenza strains so far.
Vaccine supplies have increased significantly over the past week. We have received large amounts of:
- H1N1 Multidose Preservative Containing Injectable Vaccine
- H1N1 Live Attenuated Nasal Mist vaccine
- Seasonal Flu Preservative Free Injectable vaccine for 6-35 months of age
- Seasonal Live Attenuated Nasal Mist Vaccine
- Seasonal Preservative Free Injectable vaccine for ages 3-21 years of age
H1N1 preservative free vaccine supply remains very limited throughout the county and at BAPMG.
We have been vigorously working at clearing our waiting lists for first doses of H1N1 vaccine to Tier 1 patients. If you have not received a call to schedule an appointment for your child’s first dose, feel free to call the office and we will schedule an appointment. Starting the week of Dec 21, we will also begin scheduling second doses. We expect to begin scheduling Tier 2 patients later this month. So far we have administered approximately 10,000 doses of H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine. We estimate that an additional 8,000 doses need to be administered. We expect the vaccination process to continue well into the new year.
Our recent open flu clinics in San Carlos have been very successful. Large numbers of patients took advantage of the clinics and were able to receive vaccine with very little waiting times. We will schedule more of these walk-in clinics in the near future.
Important Flu Update Nov 27, 2009
Sunday, 29 November 2009 22:46
Influenza activity has decreased over the last two weeks. We are still seeing several cases per day however. The illness remains mild and self limited. H1N1 continues to be dominant strain of Influenza at this time. Our first “open” flu clinic at the San Carlos facility on November 21 was a success and we will be offering a second open clinic in December. (see below)
H1N1 Vaccine
On November 25 we received information from the health department that we will receive a new shipment of H1N1 vaccines in the next week including:
• H1N1 injectable preservative free vaccine for use in children from 6 months to 36
months of age.
• H1N1 Live Attenuated Nasal Mist vaccine for use in children from 2-10 years of age.
• H1N1 Vaccine Injectable Preservative Containing for use in children 6 months and
above.
While we have made a significant dent in our wait lists, we still have a substantial amount of children needing the first dose of the vaccine. As with our previous shipment we would like to deploy this vaccine shipment as quickly as possible. To do so we are employing three strategies:
A) We are actively calling and scheduling patients from our wait lists.
B) We will be offering the above vaccines where appropriate to patients who are visiting the office for well child checks.
C) We will hold a second special walk in flu clinic at our San Carlos Office:
On Saturday December 12 we will hold an open H1N1 flu vaccine clinic at the San Carlos Office Site. Hours 9:00 am to 12:00pm (absolutely no sign in after 12pm)
In order to vaccinate as many children as possible the following procedures will be used:
• Only Bay Area Pediatrics patients will be served.
• This will be a “first come first served” clinic.
• There will be a $15 administration fee payable by cash or check.
No credit or debit cards will be processed.
• Insurance will not be billed.
• Only H1N1 vaccine will be offered.
• Because of ongoing supply problems, we will only have a limited amount o
preservative free and nasal mist vaccine at this clinic
• Children must be in good health and fever free.
• There will be no doctor consultation or doctor visits available during this clinic
• Patients must be in Tier 1 Risk group which includes:
• Infants and children aged 6 mos. through 9 years of age.
• Any infant or child or adolescent over the age of 6 months who has asthma,
immunodeficiency, heart disease, neuromuscular disease or diabetes.
• Any parent or child (over the age of 6 months) living with an infant under the
age of six months.
By using these procedures we hope to be able to vaccinate two to three times as many patients as we would be able to at a “by appointment” clinic. During our first clinic almost all patients arrived in the first hour. Those who arrived early had longer wait times than those who arrived after 10am.
Seasonal Flu Update:
We are continuing to offer Seasonal flu vaccine on a by appointment basis. This preparation is for children over the age of three. We are actively calling patients in from our wait list for that vaccine. This vaccination process is less time sensitive than the H1N1 vaccination process because the Seasonal Flu Strains are not expected to be active until January or later. We expect to be able to accommodate all wait list patients before January 1, 2010
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