Call early in the day to insure appropriate attention in a timely manner. All prescription renewal requests must first be reviewed by Dr. Giarnella before they can be approved. Calls made before noon should be available by 2:00 PM at the Pharmacy. Calls made in the afternoon will not be available before 5:00 pm. To be sure that your renewal has been called in, please call the pharmacy before making the trip to pick up the prescription.
Note: you may email or fax us for requests for Prescripton refills
Do not call for presciption refills after hours or on the weekends or holidays.
Urgent Care: (Return to top)
We always leave openings in our office schedule for patients who suddenly become ill and need to be seen urgently. If you should unexpectedly become ill please call the office as early as possible during the day so that our staff can schedule you to be seen as soon as possible. It is very important that you describe to the staff the exact nature of your illness. If Dr. Giarnella is seeing another patient when you call he will not be interupted unless there is a true emergency.
Every effort will be made to accomodate your needs, however you must keep in mind that there are only so many open slots in the schedule on any given day.
Do not email or fax us for scheduling Urgent Care
Emergency Care: (Return to top)
In an emergency we will make every effort to accomodate you immediately. If for some reason you are unable to get through to our office in a timely manner (lines are busy) and you feel that your situation is truly an emergency do not hesitate to go the the Emergency room or call 911.
Do not email or fax us for Emergency care
Ordinary Care: (Return to top)
In non- urgent and non emergency situations we will make every effort to accomodate your needs. It is very important that you explain to the staff the nature of your situation so that they can set aside the appropriate amount of time for your visit.
While we will make effort to accomodate your schedule you must remember that if someone else is already scheduled for your desired time period we will give you the next closest available time period.
Note: you may email or fax us scheduling ordinary care
After Hours Care (Return to top)
In the event you experience a medical problem which requires either emergency care or urgent care after office hours do not hesitate to call. Our office provides 24 hour coverage for emergency or urgent care. The Physician taking call may be a physician other than Dr. Ralph Giarnella. It is very important when calling to give a detailed description of the nature of the problem, a phone number where you can be reached.
Besides a description of the nature of your illness the following information should be available:
- List of all your medications including dose.
- Any allergies to medications you may experience
- The name and location of your pharmacy
- The phone number of your pharmacy.
The Physician on call will make every effort to return your call as soon as possible, however, he/she may have many other calls to make before he/she can call you. Please be patient.
In the event that you feel that your condition requires emergency care or is potentially life threatening do not hesitate to call 911.
Do not email or fax us for After Hours Care care
Referrals:(Return to top)
Most insurance companies no longer require referrals to see Specialists.
However if your insurance does require a referral to a specialist there are several points to keep in mind.
- The office staff cannot make a referral without first consulting with Dr.Giarnella.
- Before the staff can begin the process of making a referral Dr. Giarnella is required by the Insurance company to review your records to determine if the referral is appropriate. It is therefore important that you tell the staff what is the nature of your medical problem and the reason you need to see the specialist.
- If the problem you are experiencing is an ongoing problem which has been previously discussed with your Primary Care Physician there generally will be no problem in completing the referral.
- If the problem is a new problem you may be required to first be evaluated by Dr.Giarnella to determine if it is a medical condition which he can manage, or if the specialty care you are seeking is appropriate for your condition.
- Once it has been established that the referral is appropriate the staff needs the following information to complete the referral:
- Name and address of the Specialist
- Nature of the medical problem
- Date and time of the first appointment.
All of this takes time and we request that, except in a true emergency, you allow at least 2-3 working days to process the referral. Please do not call at the last minute (on your way to see the specialist, or while in the specialist’s office) for a referral. Under these circumstances (unless it is a true emergency) the referral will be denied.
Note: you may email or fax us for referrals
Ralph Giarnella MD
360 North Main Street
Southington CT 06489
Telephone: 860-628-2852
FAX: 860-621-8637
Email: GiarnellaMD@aol.com
Website: