About Preferred Pediatrics

We are board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and specialize in care from newborns to adolescents.

Our Care Philosophy

We work as a team with the families of our patients in delivering the best possible health care to each individual. Most of the physicians in our practice are parents of young children, and they all understand the needs of today's families.

Staff Information
All of our staff strive to make our patients comfortable throughout their visit. They are all experienced with the special needs of children.

We welcome feedback about our staff, whether it is positive or negative. Our goal is to provide the best medical care and great customer service. Please speak to our office manager or practice administrator with any comments or concerns.

Hours

We are open Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 4:30, except major holidays. We also rotate clinics for urgent care with the offices of our colleagues Rappahannock Pediatrics, Chancellor Pediatrics, Kids Choice Pediatrics, and Pediatric Partners. Simply call our telephone number and the answering service will notify you of which doctor is providing on call clinic hours or see the schedules on the home page of our website.

Please be advised that as of July 2, 2007 all afterhour calls that are triaged by a nurse will be charged a fee of $20.00 per call. After hours, our answering service will refer your call to Health Link, where a nurse will answer your questions and help you decide when and if your child needs to be seen. Please note that many patients may not be aware that in order to provide access to nurse advice 24/7, Preferred Pediatrics has employed Healthlink at a rate of $6 to $10 per call. We have provided this service free of charge to our patients and we paid approximately $40,000 in 2004. Because of rising costs Healthlink is going to increase their cost to $20 per call which could possibly end up costing $100,000 on an annual basis. Most insurance companies provide a nurse line for their subscribers. Below is a list of nurse advice lines to be utilized to avoid charges being applied to patients:

1. Anthem has a phone line named Ask A Nurse for Healthkeepers (HMO members) (phone number on ID card)
2. Aetna has “Informed Health Line,” which gives members and their families access to registered nurses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via a toll-free telephone number (phone number on ID card)
3. Cigna can make a phone nurse line available to members whose employer chooses to purchase that benefit (phone number on ID card)
4. Tricare Nurse Advice Line 800-308-35185.
5. Carefirst has a 24/7 phone line to RNs available to Blue Choice (HMO) members (phone number on ID card)
6. VA Premier Nurse Advice Line 800-256-1982

New Patients

We are currently accepting new patients from newborn until 18 years old EXCEPT those with Tricare Prime. Please call our office to verify we accept your insurance.