Patient Information

Appointment Scheduling

Primary Care (Family Practice) services are available in our Luling Health Center on a full-time basis Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Our Family Practice providers have seen all patients from Pediatrics to Geriatrics. Routine and urgent appointments can be scheduled by calling 985-785-3740 during regular office hours. In consideration of other patients who are waiting to see Ochsner's physicians, please arrive 10 to 15 minutes early for your appointment. If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, please provide 24-hour advanced notice, otherwise you may be charged a fee. If your doctor is unavailable for an urgent problem, please consider allowing Ochsner to book an appointment for you with another doctor or care provider.

Medications

Please bring any medications or a list of medications with dosage and number of times per day they are taken. Include over-the-counter medications. A current list of drugs (formulary) covered on your insurance will also help your doctor make any necessary changes in your medication.

Registration

Ochsner Health Center - Luling wants to keep your appointment waiting time to a minimum. You can help decrease your wait time by doing the following:

• Check-in 15 minutes prior to your appointment
• Bring your appointment slip and any other paperwork received from Ochsner
• Have your insurance information available
• Be prepared to make your co-payment (if applicable)
• Advise the receptionist if you need to leave the waiting area for any reason

Additionally, please bring your insurance card to each visit to ensure Ochsner has the most current information. If Ochsner is contracted to provide care by your insurance company, then Ochsner will file all claims on your behalf. Because many of Ochsner's patients frequently change insurance plans, the receptionist will routinely ask you for any updates.

Referrals

Please make sure to provide Ochsner your most current insurance information and that your Primary Care provider listed with Ochsner is correct. Ochsner will submit the needed information to your insurance to get the authorizations that you need. Ochsner will also need additional information on external referrals (doctor's name, specialty, address and phone number). External referrals will require additional time to process than internal ones.

Ochsner Health Center - Luling also has a full-time Referral Coordinator who will assist you in scheduling future office appointments and/or to coordinate appointments for lab, diagnostic imaging, outpatient procedures and specialist referrals in the event your treating physician requests you have additional services performed.

Calling Your Doctor

If your physician or nurse is unable to take your call because they are seeing patients, the receptionist will take a message and send it to the nurse. The physician or nurse, depending on the nature of the call, will return your message within four hours. If your call is received after 3:00 p.m., your call will be returned the following business day.

Phone calls are generally returned during the course of the day or after clinic hours. The specialty physicians at Ochsner Health Center - Luling do not hold clinic hours every day. You can contact our office for the dates and times when the specialists are in clinic. Please call for routine questions, forms, results and refills on days that your physician is in the clinic so that they may address these issues personally. Non-urgent requests may be deferred until your physician returns.

Ochsner On Call Services

Ochsner On Call provides appointment booking, health education and advisory services 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Specially trained registered nurses are available to discuss your healthcare concerns, to help you decide if your symptoms require going to the emergency room or a visit to a physician and to recommend appropriate self-care techniques. This service is free and available by calling 1-800-231-5257 or 504-842-3155.