FAQs

Yes, new patients are always welcome to our practice! 

When you call the office, you will be sent an electronic intake packet to complete. While this is somewhat lengthy, it provides a great picture of your child/teen in all aspects of their lives.

If your child/teen has already been diagnosed and/or treated for a mental health condition at another clinic, a copy of these medical records would be helpful to provide a clearer picture of previous treatments and why they were discontinued, etc.  A request for records consent form is included in the intake packet. 

I do not need (or want) any therapy notes!! Only those regarding medication management, lab test results (if applicable), and screening surveys (Vanderbilts, SCARED, PHQ-9, etc).

Thank you!

Office hours are usually from 8am to 5pm, except on Wednesdays when the office is closed in the morning, but open from 1pm-5pm. 

Available Appointment Time Blocks are somewhat different from Office Hours: 

Every morning except Wednesdays, appointments can be scheduled between 8am to 12pm. On Wednesdays, and all other afternoons except Fridays, appointments are available from 2pm to 5pm. On Fridays, the last afternoon appointment will end at 4pm. 

For the added convenience to avoid missing school or work, Tuesdays and Wednesdays also have an evening block of appointments from 6pm to 8pm (except during summer schedule, between June 8th-August 23rd, 2025)

Any individual changes, or for the upcoming  holiday schedule, please see the "Updated Hours" in the "Practice Info" box at the bottom of the home page (or in the "About Us" tab) for more information.

Please call the office phone during normal office hours.  If I am not able to answer the phone immediately, please  leave a voice message, and you should be contacted within 1  business day.

All appointments are currently being conducted via TELEHEALTH only. This makes access to mental health diagnoses and treatment for your child/teen much more convenient.

At this time (1/20/25), PMHP has been accepted to the following health plans: Humana, BCBC, Ambetter, and Cigna (Evernorth). However, these plans need to complete their processing before providing an exact date when I am able to accept patients to bill under their plan. This should be fairly soon, but please do not hesitate to contact me now, and we can discuss this in further detail, including discounts on fees).

Standard Medicaid enrollment is progressing fairly smoothly. Once this is processed, then enrollment in the various Medicaid managed care plans will follow.

The following plans are still in the initial processing stages: Tricare and TriWest, Oscar, Community First, and Superior. 

Aetna plan networks are currently not enrolling new providers, but the credentialing team will continue to pursue this enrollment when it opens again.

Check the most up-to-date information in the center box of "Practice Info" at the bottom of the home page or in the "Practice News" tab under the "About Us."

However, even if your insurance is currently not being accepted, or you do not have health insurance, please call to discuss payment options and discounts for self-pay. If your insurance plan does not have mental health benefits, no worries! My services are billed as medical claims, and reimbursed the same as a sick visit to your child's primary care clinic.

**IN THE EVENT OF A LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY,  CALL 911! 

**FOR A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS, CALL 911 or contact one of the San Antonio Child/Adolescent mental health hospitals for an urgent risk evaluation: Choose the  "Hospitals" tab at the top of each page under "Services" for links to Clarity, Laurel Ridge, and San Antonio Behavioral Health Hospitals. 

You or your preteen/teen can also access the National Suicide Crisis Hotline at 988!!

**IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR CHILD/TEEN HAVING A POSSIBLE  ACUTE  MEDICATION REACTION, CALL 911 or take your child/teen to the nearest emergency department (or designated pediatric ED if available). If you are concerned that your child has signs of Serotonin Syndrome (Read more info at "Resources" tab, "Serotonin Syndrome"), be sure to Inform the Emergency Department Physician of this concern As Soon as Possible!

I am unable to respond to requests for refills, appointments, or medication questions outside of normal office hours. You may leave a message in voice mail and I will respond as soon as possible during the normal business hours. NOTE: I do not recommend sending a text to this phone because it is not encrypted (not HIPAA-compliant), but if you choose to do so, PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION.  (If a message contains important information, it may be copied and saved into your child's chart, but the actual text message will be deleted for privacy. 

To send a more detailed message, please use the following secured, encrypted email (HIPAA-compliant) address: drflynn@pineconemhpeds.com

Due to my practice style (and a little OCD thrown in!), your child should always have enough medication to last through the recommended timeframe until the next follow-up appointment. There are some situations where you may be close to running out of medication between appointments:

*If your child's medication dose is being increased (titrated), the amount of medication in the Rx that you received may not contain the entire quantity of medication that I prescribed in order to continue this plan as instructed...This is due to Health Insurance Limits on the # of tablets/capsules that they will cover in a given (30 day) period. Please contact the pharmacy to obtain the "remaining" amount prescribed (this may be listed as a "refill" on your Rx bottle).

 ***Important Note*** This second Rx for the "remaining" medication needed for titrating doses will have the SAME INSTRUCTION LABEL as the original Rx! ***DO NOT RESTART THE  TITRATION FROM THE BEGINNING!! *** (Do not follow the Rx label from the start--Continue to follow the dosing plan where you left off with the previous bottle).

**IF YOU ARE INQUIRING ABOUT AN ADHD STIMULANT Rx, and the next follow-up appointment has been scheduled for more than 4 weeks after the last appointment, CONTACT YOUR PHARMACY FIRST to have the next prescription "activated" to be filled. When I recommend that the next follow-up appointment will be between 5 weeks to 3 months,  I will send up to a total of 3 separate consecutive prescriptions for stimulants all at the same time (on the day of the last appointment). One of these is fillable immediately (or as soon as insurance allows it to be). The 2 future prescriptions will each have a different "Fill Date," 30 days after the previous month's "Fill Date".  These future prescriptions do not auto-fill! That is why you have to contact the pharmacist to activate them in their system before they can be filled.  A controlled substance Rx will automatically expire 30 days from the fill date, so make sure to pick up these Rxs.

If there are any issues, please contact me during normal business hours, leave a voice message, or send an email.