Planning Your Visit

• When scheduling your appointment please inform us of all your symptoms and needs when obtaining your appointment so that enough time may be allotted to address your concern(s). Your provider may not be able to address all of your issues if they are not shared at the time you schedule your appointment.
• Please do not schedule an appointment within 2 hours of your next class or engagement.  Providers may be running behind or in-office testing may take some time.
• Please note that we are usually less busy in the morning.  We therefore tend to have more availability for appointments in the morning and wait times are often considerably less than the afternoon.
• We advise that you call as early in the day as possible if you think you will need a same day appointment.

The Student Health Center wants to maintain access to timely service for all Georgetown University students. Each time a patient misses an appointment without providing proper notice, another student is prevented from receiving care. With this policy, we want to encourage students to be responsible and understand the impact they have on other students.

Late Policy

Patients are advised to come 15 minutes prior to their scheduled appointment time. If a patient arrives more than 5 minutes after their scheduled appointment time, the patient will only be seen by a provider at that provider’s discretion.

Late patients will most often have to reschedule their appointments. Rescheduled appointments will not routinely be made for the same day as original appointment day. Rescheduled appointments for urgent matters may be discussed with the triage clinician for an exception.

“No Show”/Late Cancellation Policy

A “No Show” is someone who misses an appointment without calling to cancel or reschedule their appointment. This also includes patients who are not present within ten minutes of their appointment time (more than 10 minutes late). Any appointments that are canceled without a one-hour notice are considered “Late Cancellations”. Late cancellations will be treated as a “No Show”.

Patients who are marked with a “No Show” appointment will not be able to obtain a make-up appointment for at least 3 business days or longer. Rescheduled appointments for urgent matters may be discussed with a triage nurse or clinician for an exception.

When a patient has a third “No Show” appointment(s) within a 6 month period of time (sequential or non-sequential), they may be charged a $15 fee for each prior and subsequent “No Show” appointment(s).   This will, therefore, result in a $45 fee at the time of the third “No Show”.

• Your student identification card (GOCard)
• Your insurance card every time you visit the Student Health Center.
• Arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time in order to check-in and complete forms.
• If you are taking medication either bring a list of your current medications and dosing instructions (or the medication bottles) with you to your appointment.
• Make sure all of your demographic information is up to date when checking in for each visit.

It is difficult to anticipate the amount of time each patient will need with their provider. For this reason, there are times when you may need to wait to be seen after checking in.  Wait times may vary, but we will strive to make sure you are notified of any anticipated wait time.

The Student Health Center does not provide “Statement of Fact” confirmation, or medical excuses, to students in situations where there are no objective physical symptoms or findings (such as stomach complaints or headaches) or when a student has self-managed symptoms which have resolved without treatment from the Student Health Center. In such cases, it is simply not possible for us to verify or validate the illness. Doing so would place an undue burden on the clinic’s resources and would limit access to care for other sick students.  If you are ill and cannot attend class but do not have a condition that warrants a medical evaluation, you should not schedule an appointment solely for the purpose of obtaining a note. If you miss a class, assignment or exam due to an illness we highly recommend you speak with your Instructor and/or Dean prior to or at the time of any missed work. We are happy to evaluate you at the time of an illness or problem that you feel cannot be managed with self-care and warrants a medical evaluation.

In circumstances where the Student Health staff determines, through objective medical findings, that a student’s illness warrants a medical excuse be written, our staff will, of course, continue to do so. These may be situations such as a student with a fever over 101 F; a student with active vomiting or diarrhea; or a student with a communicable disease such as influenza or strep throat.  Regardless of the reason for a visit, we will provide a verification of appointment (Day and Time) without specific medical information if requested by the patient.

Student Health Center provides routine normal laboratory test results and normal imaging results only through the My Medstar Patient Portal (at myMedStar.org).

You may not be called with results if they are normal and will not be able to routinely get normal test results by requesting them over the phone. Patients may come to the Student Health Center to request that a paper copy of their results to be placed at the Student Health Center front desk for them to pick up (with proof of identification) if they do not wish to use the portal. 

When testing is ordered for which results are expected – it is the patient’s responsibility to make sure that the Student Health Center has up to date, correct and accessible contact information.  In order to protect patient privacy, we will not be able to leave detailed messages on voicemail that does not specifically identify the student’s identity (or a voicemail box that is full!).

Abnormal results will be provided via phone, in-person, or portal, whichever is most appropriate, per provider discretion and based on a discussion with the patient at the time the tests are ordered. 

Our clinical providers may make other arrangements with their patients on a case by case basis (i.e., they may choose to arrange to notify a patient of a normal result when the result may change the plan of care).

You can use the MyMedStar secure patient portal to communicate with the Student Health Center online from a computer or your mobile device.  This service is available online 24/7 and allows you to:

View and manage appointments
See test results
Non-urgent communication with your care team
Renew prescriptions
Access your health records
And much more…

If you do not have a MyMedStar portal set up, the visit summary provided by your clinician at your appointment will have detailed instructions on how to sign up for the portal. You will also get an email at the time of your first visit with instructions on how to create a portal account or you can ask our front desk staff for a brochure with detailed instructions.

For more information on the function, security, and use of the MyMedstar portal please visit MyMedStar.org. You can also obtain support for your account 24/7 by calling 877-745-5656.

Messages sent through the Georgetown.edu email or personal email will be not be answered—as it is not a secure form of communication for discussing confidential health information.