Adolescence is a special time of transition in the lives of both children and their parents. Although not yet fully adults, teenagers are beginning to establish their own separate identity. They need and deserve to take gradually increasing control over and responsibility for their own lives. Individual teens do this at different rates and different ages.  

Although teenagers are usually pretty healthy, many do have health concerns that warrant professional advice and sometimes treatment. Sometimes they may not feel comfortable with sharing these concerns with parents, teachers, or even peers. Teenagers tend to underuse health care resources. In surveys many say worries about confidentiality are a big reason why they may avoid seeking medical care or guidance.  

At TLC Pediatrics we believe we have an obligation to provide the best possible care to our adolescent patients. It is essential that they feel free to share any information with the expectation that it will be kept private. Thus, we have developed the following principles in guiding our care of adolescent patients.  

• Starting at age 12, it is generally up to the teenager whether they want to have a parent in the medical exam room with them or not while they see us. Occasionally, as providers we will also decide it’s best to see them alone.
• When we do see teenagers alone (or speak to them by telephone) information discussed is considered private and confidential. This means it will not be shared with others (including parents) without permission from the teenager. 
• This doesn’t mean we don’t also speak to parents. A parent may wish to speak to us, or we to them, with or without the teenager present. At these times we listen to what a parent has to tell us which may be relevant or useful. If we can, we will reassure them about worries they have, answer general questions, or give advice. We will not, however, disclose confidential information.  
• Often our discussions in private with adolescents are about things we feel should be shared with their parents. We will tell the teenager when we feel that way and ask for their permission to do so. Most often, they agree. If they do not, we may try to convince them by explaining our reasons. Ultimately, we will respect their decision except in extreme circumstances. 
• In rare situations, we may decide we have no choice but to break confidentiality. This will only be when we think someone is in extreme, imminent danger of severe harm and the only way for us to protect him/her is to break confidentiality. The person in danger might be the adolescent, or it might be somebody else. In either case, if we are going to break confidentiality for this reason, we will make every effort to tell the teenager we are going to do so before we do and look for alternative solutions. 
• We also want to make all parents aware that at the age of 13 any parent MyChart proxy account becomes limited as to what can be viewed on their child’s MyChart account. We strongly recommend any patient over the age of 13 create their own MyChart account, it is completely up to the patient if they will choose to share their login credentials with their parent for full access. 

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FINANCIAL POLICY & PATIENT RESPONSIBILTIES  

Copayments are due at time of service regardless of who brings the child into the office, for your convenience we accept cash, personal checks, VISA, Mastercard and Discover. *Please note there is a $25 fee for returned checks.  

Outstanding balances for unpaid copays, coinsurances and/or deductibles are due immediately upon receipt of statement, if you are having financial difficulties, please reach out to our billing department at 781-289-6581 to discuss options for payment plan to be created to resolve outstanding balance. 

As a courtesy, we submit claims to your insurance company. However, any insurance payment not received within 60 days from date or service will become patient responsibility. It is essential that you enroll your newborn with your insurance carrier within 30 days of birth, most major insurance companies allow changes outside of open enrollment under the life changing event clause, but they only allow 30 days for this to be requested.  

If your child will have Masshealth coverage, it is recommended you reach out to Masshealth immediately to add your newborn to your Masshealth case, you can contact Masshealth customer service at 800-841-2900. Subsequently, you will then need to enroll your child onto Wellsense Boston Childrens ACO plan. 

We request that cancellations to appointments be made 24 hours in advance. We reserve the right to assess a cancellation fee for missed appointments or late cancellations.  

Self-pay patients that are not actively covered by either commercial insurance or Masshealth must remit payment for services rendered at time of service. 

There is a $15 fee for processing of medical records. 

At TLC Pediatrics, we feel very strongly that vaccinating children with currently available vaccines is absolutely the right thing to do for all children and young adults. We are more than willing to discuss any questions you may have about vaccines, but do require all patients in our practice to receive all the recommended vaccines endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

We firmly believe in the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent serious illness and to save lives.

We firmly believe in the safety of our vaccines.

We firmly believe that all children and young adults should receive all of the recommended vaccines.

We firmly believe, based on all available literature, evidence, and current studies, that vaccines do not cause autism or other developmental disabilities

We firmly believe that thimerosal, a preservative that has been in vaccines for decades and remains in some vaccines, does not cause autism or other developmental disabilities.

We firmly believe that vaccinating children and young adults may be the single most important health promoting intervention we perform as health care providers, and that you can support as parents/caregivers.

The recommended vaccines and the schedule of administration are the results of years and years of scientific study and data-gathering on millions of children by thousands of our brightest scientists and physicians.

The vaccine campaign is truly a victim of its own success. It is precisely because vaccines are so effective at preventing illness that we are even discussing whether or not they should be given. Because of vaccines, many of you have never seen a child with polio, tetanus, whooping cough, bacterial meningitis, or even chickenpox, or known a friend or family member whose child died of one of these diseases. Such success can make us complacent or even lazy about vaccinating. But such an attitude, if it becomes widespread, can only lead to tragic outcome.

Over the past several years, many people in Europe have chosen not to vaccinate their children with the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine after publication of an unfounded suspicion (later retracted) that the vaccine caused autism. As a result of under-immunization, there have been small outbreaks of measles and several deaths from complications of measles in Europe over the past several years. The United States experienced a record number of measles cases during 2019, with 1282 cases from 31 states reported to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). This is the greatest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that by not vaccinating your child, you are taking selfish advantage of thousands of others who do vaccinate their children, which decreases the likelihood that a child will contract one of these diseases. We feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable.