Frequently Asked Questions

For your convenience, our office is open Monday through Friday. When the office is closed, one of our physicians is always available for emergencies. Please call to confirm office hours.

Our doctors are available 24 hours a day. Call the office at (856) 235-0290 , and follow the prompts to page the doctor. Please be aware that after-hours calls are intended for urgent medical issues that cannot wait until the next business day. Referral and appointment requests will not be addressed via pager. Pages are typically returned within 15 minutes. Please call back if you have not received a timely response.

IN THE EVENT OF A LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY, CALL 911 OR GO TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY ROOM.

Every effort is made to arrange your appointment with the doctor of your choice. To provide prompt medical attention when you are ill, you may be seen by our first available doctor.

Well Visits or Complete Physical Exams are recommended yearly. It is important that patients check with their health insurance carrier to confirm how often physical exams are covered under their insurance plans. Well visits or physical exams provide an opportunity for you to ask questions and learn more about various health issues, and for the doctor to order important and appropriate screenings or tests.

Periodic Follow Up visits and Check Ups are also recommended for patients who have chronic health conditions. Depending upon the patient and the condition, the period between Follow Up visits may vary as needed.

Our routine health maintenance visit schedule follows the American Academy of Pediatrics vaccine guideline for children.

If we have referred you to a specialist, make the appointment with the specialist; then call our office back to initiate the referral. When you call us, be prepared to provide the name of the specialist, their address and phone number, the name of your health insurance company, and the date and time of your appointment. Please allow 72 hours for all referrals to be processed. Most referrals are completed electronically and submitted directly to the specialist’s office. Please check with our office staff to determine if your insurance plan processes referrals electronically. You may need to pick up your referral and take it with you to your visit.

Yes, we welcome new patients.

Advocare participates with most major insurance plans. As participation varies by region, specialty, and physician, we recommend that you contact either our office or your insurance company representative to verify that your insurance plan is accepted.

Yes, family doctors are trained to manage common problems ranging from birth to old age.

Family doctors are trained to care for the entire family, from newborn to elderly, in an outpatient setting. Internists see only patients age 18 and older, and are generally based in hospitals. We recommend that you check with the office to learn which providers care for patients in a specific age group.

For test results including, but not limited to, labs, x-rays, mammograms, DEXA scans, MRIs, and others, it usually take three to five days for the ordering doctor to receive the reports. The ordering doctor will address test results in a timely fashion. Our office policy requires us to notify our patients with the results of any procedure performed at the request of Drs. Winston and Bechtel. After you have a test done that we have ordered, you can expect a call from either the doctor or a member of our office staff. You will receive a call right away with test results that require urgent attention. If we are unable to reach you after three attempts, we will mail you a notification to contact the office for your test results. Never assume that your results are normal just because you have not received a call. When your health is in question, we encourage you to adopt the policy that "NO NEWS IS NO NEWS." Please do not hesitate to call if you have not heard from your doctor.

Please contact your pharmacy and follow the prompts for your prescription refill; the pharmacy will contact us to obtain the necessary information needed to refill your medication. Please allow about 24 hours for prescription refills. As it may take three to five days to obtain approval for prescriptions that require prior authorization from your insurance company, please plan your refills accordingly. Prescription refills for controlled substances such as pain medications that require a written prescription are refilled Monday through Friday only.