Office Hours

Our office is open from 8:00AM to 5:00PM Monday through Thursday and 8:00AM to 12:00PM Friday.

Office Addresses:
Desert Medical Advances
69730 Hwy 111, Suite 101
Rancho Mirage, CA.  92270
760-341-6800

Telephone Calls

It is our office policy to try to return all phone calls each day.   We encourage you to call with questions you may have concerning your health care problems.  Because of the large number of phone calls the following procedures in place to handle telephone questions optimally.  The office staff will transcribe all the patient's medical questions and ask patients relevant questions per doctor's protocol.   All question are then reviewed by the medical assistant with the physician.  The medical assistant will then call back and review the doctor's recommendations with you.  These calls are generally returned towards the end of the day, between the hours of 4:00PM and 5:00PM.  If time permits or there is an emergency, phone calls will be returned earlier.  Because of the resultant disruption to patients currently being seen in the office, the physician can only take important physician emergency and hospital calls directly.

Billing and Insurance

We make every effort to keep down the cost of your medical care.  To help this effort, payment at the time of your visit is therefore expected.

Health care insurance in intended to cover some, but not all of the cost of your treatment.  Most plans include co-insurance, a deductible and other expenses which must be paid by the patient.  If you have insurance, please bring your plan information with you to your first visit.  We will work with you to assure that you receive the maximum benefits to which you are entitled. 

Prescriptions

All prescriptions and authorizations for renewals should be requested during normal working hours Monday through Friday.  Therefore, please always be certain to request refills 72 hours in advance to ensure against running out of medications.  Please call the pharmacy directly for refill requests.

Appointments

Office visits are by appointment only.  Please call us if your appointment cannot be kept.  We appreciate this courtesy at least 24 hours in advance.   This will ensure that patients who are trying to be seen and currently on a waiting list have a chance to be called and scheduled.

MEDICAL APPOINTMENT CANCELLATION/NO SHOW POLICY

When patients schedule an appointment with Desert Medical Advances, we set aside enough
time to provide patients with the highest quality care. Should patients need to cancel or
reschedule an appointment they must contact our office as soon as possible, and no later than 24
hours prior to the scheduled appointment. This gives us time to schedule other patients who may be waiting for an appointment. Our Appointment Cancellation/No Show Policy is as follows:

• Effective Oct 07, 2020 any established patient who fails to show or cancels/reschedules
  an appointment and has not contacted our office with at least 24 hours’ notice will be
  considered a No Show and charged a $25.00 fee.
• The fee is charged to the patient, not the insurance company, and will be collected at the
  time of the patient’s missed office visit by charging the patients credit card on-file. If
  there is no credit card, the fee will carry forward to the next visit and the $25 fee will be
  collected concurrently.
• As a courtesy, when time allows, we make reminder calls for appointments. If patients do
  not receive a reminder call or message, the above Policy will remain in effect.

Office Phone Numbers

Dr. Maria Greenwald:
760-341-6800 for appointments and billing inquiries

For initial Consultations for non-Medicare patients: No referral necessary

For initial Consultation for Medicare patients:
Appointments are by referral only.  Please talk with your primary physician.

Medicare

Dr. Gary Greenwald accepts Medicare Assignment, Dr. Maria Greenwald does not.  We bill Medicare for all Medicare patients.  Although we are are unable to bill Medicare secondary insurances (except for "crossover plans") because of staff and time limitations, we will be happy to provide you with the appropriate forms necessary to bill your secondary insurance claims at the time of each visit.

General Care

We practice only our specialties and therefore strongly encourage all our patients over forty to have a primary physician.  If you are visiting or new to the community we can offer information regarding primary physicians in the area.  It is highly recommended for anyone age over 40 to have a full check up, an EKG, regular mammograms, evaluations for high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, etc. on a regular basis.  A Primary Physician is required for all Medicare & pediatric patients.  Please allow 5 to 7 days for disability forms and medical record requests to be processed.