Chad Magnuson MD

17429 Vashon Hwy SW
PO Box 1450
Vashon WA 98070
phone (206) 463-5401
fax (206) 686-5610

Hours

Monday, Wednesday–Friday
9:00am – 5:00pm

Tuesday
11:30am – 5:00 pm

Other times by special arrangement.
Closed major holidays.

In case of emergency,
call 9–1–1.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Philosophy of care
• Directions
• Mailing address
• Hours
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Parking
• Contacting Dr. Magnuson
• After hours care
• Insurance plans
• Services offered (what I do and what I don't do)
• Scheduling an appointment
• Prescription refills
• Dr. Magnuson time off and vacations

Philosophy of care

Whether for one visit every three years or for frequent visits for an ongoing medical condition, good health care is available when you need it with good information. It happens best in an environment in which there is mutual respect and an ongoing relationship between a provider of care and a patient. By simplifying the environment in which I provide care, I seek to be more attentive and responsive to the needs and values of my patients. My professional goal is to help my patients reach their best health potential.
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Directions

Chad Magnuson Family Medicine, at 17429 Vashon Highway SW, is conveniently located on the main highway in the center of town across from Bob’s Bakery and next to the Farmers Market/Village Green Park. It is in a building shared with Vashon Physical Therapy. The entrance is on the south side via a paved sidewalk from the south end of the parking lot.
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Mailing address

Mailing/correspondence address:
Chad Magnuson Family Medicine
PO Box 1450
Vashon, WA 98070
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Hours

Monday, Wednesday—Friday: 9:00am–5:00pm
Tuesday: 11:30am–5:00pm
Closed major holidays
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Phone number

(206) 463-5401
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Fax number

(206) 686-5610
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Parking

Two spots in the Southwest corner of the parking lot in front of the building are reserved for my patients. They are the ones right next to the sidewalk to the entrance to my office. There are also two spots for vehicles with handicap tags, one on either side of the building's East entrance which are available to either my or Vashon Physical Therapy’s patients.
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Contacting Dr. Magnuson

Contacting Dr. Magnuson during office hours: I can be reached at (206) 463-5401. During office hours the phone will go to voice mail where you can leave confidential messages. Periodically, throughout the day at scheduled times, I will return calls. Please leave numbers where you can be reached throughout the day and early evening. For emergencies call 911. For urgencies that can wait up to 3 hours leave a message or visit my online scheduling site ( click here ) to check on same day availability.

Contacting Dr. Magnuson or the Doctor on call after hours: Call (206) 463-5401 and listen to the outgoing message. You will be given the option of contacting the doctor on call; please use this option only for medical issues that cannot wait until the next office hours. For non-urgent matters you can leave a message and I will address the issue when I am next able. Again, for emergencies call 911.
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After-hours care

I share call with the providers from the Vashon Health Center. Twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, one of us will be on call for medical issues that cannot wait until the next office hours. As a patient in my practice you simply call my office phone number and select the option for reaching the doctor on call.
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Insurance plans

I work with a wide spectrum of insurance plans. For questions about specific insurers please contact me directly. If there is a particular insurer with whom you wish me to work, let me know and I will do what I can to work with them. I will always be willing to bill you personally and provide you with documentation that you can provide to your insurance company to seek reimbursement from them directly.

Insurers for whom I am a provider: Aetna, Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield, Cigna, DSHS/Medicaid*, First Choice, Highline Medical Services Organization (HMSO), KPS, Medicare*, Molina*, Premera, Puget Sound Health Partners, Regence, Retail Clerks Welfare Trust, Uniform Medical

Insurers for whom I am not a preferred (ie contracted) provider: First Health, Great West, Group Health Cooperative, InterPlan, PHSC, and United Healthcare. At this point I will not be seeking contracts with these insurers.

* Note: Starting January 17, 2008, I will not be accepting new DSHS/Medicaid, Molina Basic Health Plan, or regular Medicare patients into my practice. If you were previously established with me at the Vashon Health Center or have already begun to see me at Chad Magnuson Family Medicine this does not apply to you. I will be accepting new patients in the Medicare Advantage programs being offered by Highline Medical Services Organization through Puget Sound Health Partners (call 1-866-789-7747 for more information), and Molina (call 1-866-403-8293 for more information) which will start in January 2008. Note also that I am accepting new DSHS/Medicaid patients who have Molina Healthy Options (call DSHS to see if you can enroll in this program if you are presently on an open DSHS card).

Unfortunately, I will not be able to see Group Health patients unless they choose to pay for the care themselves or are on the Options plan and chose to see me as an out of network provider.
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Services offered

Services offered include:

• Preventative (also known as well or health care maintenance) visits for all ages; from newborn to the elderly, for men and women. Emphasizing wellness, prevention of illness, and counseling on disease risk, screening tests, and immunizations.
• Urgent care that can be scheduled (either by phoning my office or using the online scheduling system).
• Illness care for problems such as pneumonia, sinus infections, back pain, skin infections, minor lacerations (that can potentially wait 2-3 hours), asthma exacerbations, sore throats, urinary tract infections, sprains, migraines, etc.
• Chronic disease care emphasizing a collaborative approach for such conditions as asthma, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, arthritis, congestive heart failure, bowel problems, etc.
• Coordination of care with consultants of all types. I will help you make careful choices about whom to see for a particular issue and help to make sure that the information is understood and relevant to you.
• Laboratory tests that can either be done in my office or sent out to a main full spectrum laboratory facility.
• Electrocardiography and breathing tests (spirometry).
• Skin biopsies.

Services that I don’t offer:

• Prenatal care.
• Emergency care (call 911).
• Urgent Care during office hours for which a person cannot wait up to 3 hours to be seen.
• Infusions and monitoring of ill patients.
• X-rays in my office (I will be glad to arrange X-ray evaluations at radiology centers off-island such as in Seattle and Burien).

If you are not sure whether I offer a particular service just call and I will be glad to discuss it with you.
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Scheduling an appointment

Consider the following when scheduling an appointment (if this is old information to you then click here to go directly to the scheduling system):

Appointments are scheduled either directly in my online scheduling system or via a phone call with me.

Online scheduling: Follow the link at the end of this section to access the online scheduling system. It is quite straightforward. Please, try to set a simple to remember username and password so that you can more easily log into the system in the future. If you end up setting up a second username I can help to remind you of your old one and its password and delete the new username.

Phone scheduling: Scheduling via the phone, will require that you leave me a message on my voice mail. Please, briefly describe the nature of the problem(s) to be addressed in the visit and when you are available and wish to be seen. Make sure to leave a phone number where I can reach you personally or leave a confidential phone message. In the message I will indicate the appointment time. We can always trade phone calls to arrive at a time that works best for you.

There are three types of appointments (if you are not sure what type to book I will be glad to help you decide):

• Single slots: up to 25 minutes. These are scheduled by finding a single available slot in the schedule. This length visit is appropriate for most follow-up appointments, single problem visits, and minor procedures.
• Double slots: up to 50 minutes. These are scheduled by finding a double slot available in the schedule. Using the online scheduling system you simply select double slot appointment. It will show all double slot appointments that are free on the day that you select. These are appropriate for initial visits, wellness/health care maintenance visits for any age, visits for a complicated problem, or multiple problems at the same visit.
• Lab draw appointments: These are scheduled for 15 minutes when the intention is to only collect a lab specimen or receive an immunization. The online scheduling system will find all available slots available for the day you have selected. Often times it is appropriate to incorporate the lab draw into an appointment which addresses a medical problem. In this case schedule a normal single or double slot appointment to be seen by me at which time I will also collect the specimen.

Please note: Well women visits for which a breast or pelvic exam may be appropriate need to be scheduled via the phone for me to coordinate with an assistant.

Click here to be connected to the online scheduling system.
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Refills

I generally write a prescription for the time I feel is safe and appropriate between evaluations (such as visits with me, follow up lab tests or blood pressure checks, etc.). I strive to always indicate the interval until the next evaluation at the time I write the prescription. Therefore, consider that when you are running low on a medication and there are no refills available most often the next step is to schedule follow up with me and receive your refills then. Sometimes you need to double check that truly no refills are available with the pharmacy as occasionally the refill number gets left off the bottle yet remains in their system. It is your responsibility to monitor your medication supply and note well in advance that you are running low. This means noting when you have only a 10 to 14 day supply remaining so that you have time to schedule follow up and get your new prescription.

For antibiotics and pain medication a scheduled appointment is almost always necessary.

If the above don’t seem to apply to your situation, have your pharmacy fax to me a refill request. I will process it within two business days or contact you to request follow-up.
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Dr. Magnuson time off and vacations

On days off and during my vacations, medical matters that cannot wait until I return can be addressed with my call partners at the Vashon Health Center. My phone line outgoing message will indicate when I will next be in the office and whether I will be checking messages and faxes during my time away. This will help you decide whether you need to seek the help of the Vashon Health Center staff.
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Contents ©2007 Chad Magnuson MD PLLC.