Dear Families,
As always, we are grateful for the trust you place in our practice to care for your growing children. Everything we do serves our mission of providing the best care possible at a medical home where you feel heard and understood. We know you have many options for medical care for your family and we thank you for choosing Premier.
As we look ahead to the spring of 2024 and beyond, we pledge to continue to practice our signature, relationship-based brand of pediatrics. At the same time, we are facing significant challenges in the post-pandemic healthcare environment. Our practice has implemented many changes since 2020 to make it possible to continue the highest level of care at no additional cost to you. We’ve downsized to two locations, we’ve moved our Brooklyn office, and we’ve streamlined office processes for parents. Despite our best efforts, increased competition from large healthcare networks and rising medical and administrative costs are threatening the viability of smaller independent practices like Premier.
After much consideration, we have decided to implement a modest annual administrative fee. We hope you understand this fee is necessary to cover the rising costs of running a top-notch medical office. It will allow us to maintain the level of care you deserve and the doctor-patient relationship you have come to know and expect at Premier.
The Premier annual fee is $250 for a first child and an additional $50 per child up to a maximum of $350 per family. The fee will be an annual fee beginning on your child’s first birthday. The administrative fee is in lieu of the yearly patient non-expedited form fee. It will cover many of the services that you already enjoy, such as:
- Messaging through Klara
- Same-day sick appointments
- Evening and weekend urgent care appointments
- 24/7 availability for urgent care advice through our physicians and overnight nurse service
- Weekend flu vaccine clinics
- 24-48 hour referrals to our network of specialists throughout New York City
- BornPremier, our unique comprehensive program for our youngest patients and their families
- Filling school/camp forms and other documents
Though not covered by insurance, your flexible spending account (FSA) may help to cover this cost.
We want you to know that we did not make this decision lightly and understand that this administrative fee might present an undue financial burden for some of our families. If this is the case or you have any other questions or concerns, please reach out via Klara and we will pass the message along to Drs. Sarnoff and Capiola.
Sincerely,
The Premier Pediatrics Team