Policy & Procedure

For your protection, and that of others, all dogs must be on a leash and properly controlled while in the waiting area or exam rooms. We recommend walking your dog before taking him/her in your car.

If your pet is coughing, has vomiting or diarrhea, please leave them in the car (with it running) and come in to alert our receptionists to your arrival.  We may ask that you remain in your car with your pet until we are able to bring you directly into a room.

We ask that all exotics and primates are in a species appropriate carrier.

All cats must be presented in an appropriate cat carrier.

If your cat is afraid of your carrier, follow these instructions:

A few days before your scheduled visit (preferably 1 week), take your carrier out of storage and place it near your cat’s feeding area. Next, leave the carrier door open and put your cat’s favorite blanket and some toys in the carrier so it becomes a familiar part of your cat’s environment. After some time, place some of its favorite foods inside or on top of the carrier. Because the next stressful event for many cats is simply traveling in your car, which always means a visit to the vet clinic, minimize your cat’s fear by taking it for a couple of short rides before the day of your visit. Your cat should eventually consider its carrier a safe haven.

Walk-in clients are welcome, however, appointments are preferred, and walk-in clients are subject to different exam fees. Emergency cases receive top priority followed by clients with previously scheduled appointments.

Extra Pet Fee
There will be a $15 fee applied to your account for each additional pet brought in that was not scheduled on the original appointment.

Payment Policy
Our goal is to serve you and your pet in every way possible. This includes ensuring your medical team provides the level of care that fits within your budget. It’s important that your financial commitment and responsibilities are made clear before treatment begins. In the case of an emergency, your pet will be stabilized before your medical options are presented.

Payment, in full, is required at the time services are rendered.

Accepted Forms of Payment
We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Care Credit, American Express, and Scratch Pay.

No Show and Late Arrival Policy
Unfortunately, like other medical practices, we also have the occasional late arrival or no-show appointment.  We do try and manage these as apart from impacting on those who have arrived on time for their appointment; it has a negative impact on the medical team.  Often there are cases being treated in hospital and the staff attempts to schedule their day to ensure that they can meet the needs of those patients and scheduled appointments.  Arriving late or not showing at all impacts on their ability to manage treatments for these pets.  As a result, we do have a few rules and guidelines that the staff work with in terms of late arrivals and no-shows.

Late Arrivals

Please be aware that our hospital has a policy wherein if you are more than 10 minutes late for your scheduled appointment time, we will be adjusting our schedule and moving you to the walk in/urgent care service when you arrive.  While we certainly understand that delays may happen, we feel we have an obligation and responsibility to do our very best to service clients and patients who are here for their appointments on time.  We strongly encourage all of our clients to arrive at least 15 minutes early for scheduled appointments if possible, as we do have administrative paperwork that will need to be completed, especially if you are a new client or have a new pet.

No-Shows

When you schedule an appointment and fail to show or call and notify us of your inability to keep this appointment time, it impacts our ability to service clients who may be here already waiting to see a doctor.  If you fail to show or call and notify us about difficulty in keeping your appointment time 3 x, you will be prohibited from scheduling an appointment with one of our doctors.  We will still see your pet, but it will be as a walk in/urgent care arrival only following three subsequent no-shows for appointments.  We recognize that your pet may be in need of medical attention and we do not wish to turn your pet away, but you will be subject to any wait times associated with the walk in/urgent care service.

Cancellation Policy
If you must cancel an appointment we ask for 24 hours notice. For surgical appointments we ask for 72 hours notice (3 days). The following fees will be applied to your account for last minute cancellations:

A $15 fee will be applied to your account for canceling an appointment with less than 24 hours notice.
We ask that you give us 72 hours (3 days) notice if you need to cancel a surgical appointment. This allows us to offer that appointment to another patient and helps our doctors and staff efficiently navigate the day. We understand that cancelled appointments happen for a number of reasons and that some are unexpected and unavoidable. If we determine that this policy is being abused we reserve the right to discontinue reserving our staff’s time for that client or we may charge a $25 cancellation fee. We thank you in advance for abiding by these policies and helping us keep our clients, staff, and patients on schedule and safe!!

We have created this policy out of respect for those clients who are waiting to have their pets be seen.

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to the St.Charles Veterinary Hospital. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. We also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle information. This document describes our privacy policies.

What is Personal Information?
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. Personal information includes information that relates to the person’s characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address or phone number, ethnic background, family status), health (e.g., health history, health conditions, health services received by them) or their activities and views (e.g., religion, politics, opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual). Personal information is to be contrasted with business information (e.g., an individual’s business address and telephone number), which is not protected by privacy legislation.

What Information is Protected?
St.Charles Veterinary Hospital is responsible for protecting any of your personal information that it has in its possession. This includes all personal information collected for or submitted to a third party to which you have consented (example – laboratory samples).

We collect and use your personal information to:

• Verify your identity
• Comply with federal, provincial, local law and by-law requirements
• Bill goods and services
• Collect unpaid accounts
• Send out health care reminders
• Make referrals to veterinary specialists and/or laboratories
• Verify information with grooming or boarding facilities

Your personal information may be collected, used or disclosed for any of the purposes identified above. If your personal information is not required for one of these purposes, we will not use or disclose it without your prior consent.

How Do We Gather Your Personal Information?
From you when you become a client at our clinic
From reporting agencies (i.e. local humane societies, public health authorities)

Your Consent
We require your consent before we may collect, use or disclose any of your personal information, except under special circumstances, including police and/or cruelty investigations or other situations permitted by law.

How Do You Provide Us with Your Consent?
Your signature, as provided on a specific “Consent” document
Your written, verbal, or implied consent obtained during an appointment
Your consent as provided by persons authorized by you to make decisions on your behalf

Accuracy
St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will make every reasonable effort to ensure that the personal information collected will be as accurate, complete and as up-to-date as possible for the purposes for which the information is to be used.

Safeguards
St.Charles Veterinary Hospital shall safeguard and protect all personal information under its control by implementing appropriate security measures based on the sensitivity of information.

St.Charles Veterinary Hospital shall ensure that its employees keep all personal information confidential and comply with the security standards established by this veterinary facility.

St.Charles Veterinary Hospital shall require that third parties to whom personal information is disclosed have committed to an appropriate level of security (which may include execution of a confidentiality covenant) in protection of such information.

On the disposal or destruction of personal information, St.Charles Veterinary Hospital shall take the necessary precautions to prevent third parties from accessing such information and to maintain the confidentiality of this personal information.

Transparency
St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will make specific information about our privacy policies and procedures available to any interested individual. St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will facilitate access to its personal information policies and procedures, including the identity of our Privacy Officer. St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will also ensure that individuals are able to gain access to their own personal information.

Individual Access to Personal Information
An individual providing personal information to St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will be informed of our personal information policy. This individual can access the information in order to ensure its accuracy and completeness, and shall be permitted to have it amended if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will respond promptly to any request made by an individual to access his or her personal information.

St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will maintain a full record of all third parties to whom personal information has been disclosed, and will make this record available to an individual whose personal information has been so disclosed.

Questions and Concerns Regarding Compliance with this Policy
An individual providing personal information to St.Charles Veterinary Hospital may address any questions, concerns or complaints to the Privacy Officer. St.Charles Veterinary Hospital will establish a procedure for processing any complaint about this personal information policy to ensure that all complaints are dealt with in an objective, fair and effective manner.

Privacy Officer Contact Information:
St.Charles Veterinary Hospital
2360 North Blvd. West, Davenport, Fl. 33837
(863) 438-6600