OUR POLICIES

The Community Care Clinic exists to provide temporary family medicine services to anyone who requires it and is intended to be a shared practice. If you continue to access services here, you will eventually meet several physicians who work on rotation taking turns providing coverage. This strategy ensures continuity and accessibility. Your file, records, and results will be maintained at the clinic regardless of which physician you see ensuring that you can access both quality and timely care.

Unlike a traditional family doctor, the Community Care Clinic does not roster patients. Likewise, it does not turn any patients away. You and your family are welcome to access the clinic’s services regularly but please be aware that no one physician will be providing your care.

It is the Community Care Clinic’s policy NOT to prescribe chronic pain, benzodiazepine, ADHD, or sleeping medication to patients who register as walk-ins. Patient’s requiring these medications must make a booked appointment to discuss their specific needs in depth. Physicians are not required to justify prescription refusals.

Because the Community Care Clinic is a shared practice, your results are often interpreted by a different physician from the one who ordered the investigation. Although the Community Care Clinic strives to ensure nothing gets missed, you should always follow up your results regardless of if you are called back or not—no system is perfect. For example, many concerns persist even when results are “normal” and no callback is issued. The Community Care Clinic is here for you until such time as your health concern is resolved.

To encourage follow up, the Community Care Clinic is pleased to provide free* copies of results to patients. Please inquire at the reception. (*Please note, a fee applies if you require multiple results printed from multiple dates).

Results will only be released in person.

If you do not hear from a specialist or medical facility to which you have been referred by two weeks, please call 780-715-1314 and speak with staff to ensure that your referral has been received and duly processed. Staff at the Community Care Clinic are happy to work with you to ensure that you get access to the care you need.

The Community Care Clinic is only able to provide patient care directly through in person visits at the clinic. Community Care Clinic physicians will not return phone calls to patients. If you would like to speak to a physician, you MUST be present in person at the clinic.

If you are traveling and are unable to be present in-person, it is your responsibility to coordinated with a local primary care service provider wherever you are. In order to access your chart, work with your chosen local primary care provider to sign a Release of Information and fax it to the Community Care Clinic at 780-715-1700. This Release of Information MUST have your signature on it. If the local primary care provider does not have a standard letter head for this purpose you may use the generic release prepared by the Community Care Clinic, Release of Information Template v.2-1.

If you require the information urgently, you must call and coordinate with Community Care Clinic staff during the Community Care Clinic’s regular business hours.

Please Note:

1. You must provide a description of the information you want accessed / released. Please be as specific as possible. A fee may apply if you request multiple results from multiple service dates or the entire chart.
2. If you are requesting access to another individual’s information you must either: i) be that individual’s Authorized Representative, or ii) attach a valid consent executed by that individual.
3. If this is your consent and you are requesting the release of your personal information to an authorized representative, please include a photocopy of your license with your signature clearly visible.

The Community Care Clinic Ltd. collects personal health information according to the provisions and restrictions of the Health Information Act of Alberta, Section 20.

Please note, it is a contravention of the Health Information Act of Alberta to discuss or disclose personal health information using non-secured methods such as e-mail.

Privacy Charter

Not all services are covered by Alberta Health. Most commonly, this applies to paper work of all sorts. Please note, there are no refunds once the work has been completed.

Please see the published PDF for a listing of uninsured services: Uninsured Services_Community Care Clinic

Family members, on behalf of a patient under their direct care and supervision, may make an appointment on behalf of a patient to discuss the patient without the patient being present–this is known as a “Family Conference.” Please note:

1. The physician must have adequate  prior experience with both the family member and the patient for this to be appropriate. The definition of “adequate” is at the discretion of the physician and determined on a case-by-case basis. Family Conferences may be refused.
2. The physician CANNOT disclose the personal private information of the patient unless the clinic has received a formally completed and signed Personal Directive. In general, family members, friends, and colleagues are allowed to share anything they feel is appropriate. In contrast, clinics and physicians are not allowed to share any patient information at any time with anyone but the patient.

Please be aware: the physician CANNOT renew prescriptions without the patient being physically present. A patient must be physically present to receive a prescription renewal. Family members CANNOT and WILL NOT be given prescription refills on behalf of an absent patient. This restriction applies to formal Family Conferences as well.

The inability to work due to disability is a complex matter requiring judgment and due diligence on the part of physicians who are asked to make clinical decisions and give opinions. Likewise chronic pain and legal proceedings. Because the Community Care Clinic is a shared practice, our physicians do not complete long term disability paper work, manage chronic pain, or provide care while legal proceeding are ongoing. If you require any of these services, you must elect a permanent family physician. The Community Care Clinic does not provide these services.