Attendance Policy

One of the most important keys to success in therapy is to regularly attend all your scheduled appointments. Because it is our priority to help your child grow and succeed through therapy, we offer different types of scheduling options, in order to meet the varied scheduling needs of the families that we serve. Regardless of which scheduling option you choose, you are required to attend at least 1 visit per month (unless otherwise noted by the treating therapist) in order to maintain an active patient status at Medical Support Services. 

• Permanent Appointment – Your child will be scheduled for appointments on the same day and time with the same therapist recurring weekly. If your preferred time is unavailable, your child will go on the priority list and you will be required to schedule Special Flex appointments in the meantime.
• Special Flex – If permanent times are not a convenient option for your family or you are recommended to be seen 1 time per month, a special flex scheduling option is offered. With this scheduling option, you are responsible for contacting us to schedule appointments, and your appointment(s) can be made up to 4 weeks in advance of the day and time of the appointment(s) being requested.

If you are unable to attend one of your appointments, we ask that you notify the clinic of the cancellation reason, 24 hours prior to the start of your scheduled appointment for planned absences; if cancelling due to illness, notify our office as soon as symptoms arise. If you fail to contact us 24 hours before your appointment start time, it will be considered a no show.

The patient is required to attend or reschedule all appointments in order to maintain their permanent times or special flex schedule. However, because we understand that you may be faced with circumstances outside of your control, we will allow up to 2 non-rescheduled cancellations per discipline, within a 3-month period. Please bear in mind that for both permanent times and special flex if you exceed more than the 2 non-rescheduled cancellations per discipline in a 3-month period, or you incur 2 no shows in a 6-month period, your child will be moved to the flex scheduling option and all future appointments will be removed from the schedule.

Parent/Guardian must call within 1 week of the missed appointment to reschedule, however the rescheduled visit does not have to take place within that week and can occur in the future as insurance permits. If a cancellation occurs on behalf of the clinic, such as if your therapist is unavailable, we still strongly encourage you to reschedule your appointment. Yet, this cancellation will be an excused cancellation and will not count against you.

• Flex – With this scheduling option, you are responsible for contacting us to schedule appointments, and your appointment(s) can be made 1 week in advance of the day and time of the appointment(s) being requested.

If you would like to resume a permanent time or special flex scheduling option, your child must attend 100% of the therapist-recommended treatment sessions for 1 month in order to be moved back to a permanent time or special flex schedule. Please bear in mind that for flex scheduling if you exceed more than the 2 non-rescheduled cancellations per discipline in a 3-month period, or you incur 2 no shows in a 6-month period, your child will be moved to the day of scheduling option.

• Day of – With this scheduling option, you are responsible for contacting us to schedule appointments, and your appointment(s) can be made the same day as the requested appointment OR up to eight business hours in advance of the requested time. (Note: if you are planning to schedule a therapy appointment between 7AM and 10AM, please make sure to contact our office between 2PM and 6PM the day prior to your requested appointment.) Your child must attend 100% of the therapist-recommended treatment sessions for 1 month in order to be moved back to a flex schedule. Please bear in mind that if you no show any of your day of appointments, your child will be discharged. 

Please make every effort to arrive at your appointment on time. If you arrive late to an appointment, the patient will be seen as the therapist’s schedule permits. Please understand that if you arrive late, you may not receive all or any of your treatment. 

In order to keep you informed on your child’s progress, you are required to arrive 5 minutes before the end of your appointment time, to allow the therapist to review the session and discuss home programming. Due to our tight schedules, we cannot stay with your child for more than their allotted appointment time. If you are consistently late picking up your child, a guardian will be required to stay in the clinic for the duration of the treatment session(s).