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First-Time Patient Advice

Preparing for Your First Appointment

Learn more about how you can prepare for your first appointment with your cancer care and treatment team at the OSUCCC – James.

Preparing for Your First Appointment

    Here are some tips that will help you make the most of your first appointment.

    Organizing Your Health Information

    • Keep your health information in a notebook, folder or file. If you are seeing a new specialist, take your information with you to your appointment.
    • Keep notes about your personal health history, including the dates, for the following: 

    Preparing for Your Visit

    • Write down any questions you have for your OSUCCC – James health care team members. Your team encourages your questions to ensure you receive the most personalized treatment possible.
    • Underline or highlight the questions you want to make sure your specialists answer.
    • Write down any symptoms or problems, especially any new symptoms since your last visit. For example:
    • Keep a list of all the medicines you are taking, including: 
    • Write down the following information about each medicine: 
    • Be prepared to bring in all of your medicines in the original containers so your team can review them with you at your visit. 
    • Ask a family member or friend to come with you to the visit. This person can be an extra set of ears to listen and take notes while you are talking with your health care team.

    Things to Bring

    • Your insurance card and identification, including your social security number
    • Previous tests and radiology reports, if you have them
    • Names, addresses, phone numbers of other doctors who are treating you or who referred you
    • Personal health information, including dates when events occurred and any allergies or intolerances you may have to medications
    • Family health history information, listing significant conditions that affected family members directly related to you
    • A list of medications including the name, dosage and how often you take these medicines (or bring along the bottles with the labels still intact)
    • A list of questions or concerns you may want to discuss with your health care team and paper and pen for recording new information
    • Please keep in mind not to wear rings or jewelry if you will be an inpatient. This is especially true if surgery is required.
    • A copy of your advance directives if you will be an inpatient.

    Specific instructions and information about what to bring will also be sent to those planning an in-hospital stay.

    Insurance

    The OSUCCC – James and our expert team of providers accept most insurance plans. You can refer to the full list of insurances we accept to see if your plan is accepted.

    Before you schedule an appointment or procedure, please be sure to check with your insurance carrier to determine your policy’s benefits and any pre-visit requirements. As a patient, it is your responsibility to ensure you are covered for any services you receive and to provide accurate insurance information to facilitate the billing process. In general, bills will be submitted to the primary insurance carrier. When applicable, the bills will be submitted to a secondary insurer. The patient will then receive a bill with any remaining portion that is the patient’s responsibility.

    If you do not have insurance or are underinsured, please see the Financial Assistance options that are available to you.