Useful Information about the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes

Making an Appointment

Appointment line: 202-476-3440 or 476-2121, select option 1

You can call the appointment line Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The appointment line manages the schedules at the specialty care locations and the main hospital. If all lines are busy you may be asked to leave a message and your call will be returned within 48 hours. There may be up to a three-month waiting time for an appointment, depending on the location of the clinic.

Please make every effort to make follow-up appointments in a timely manner; we suggest making your follow-up appointment at the time of your clinic visit. Follow up appointments are usually made for the Specialty Care Location closest to you, though traveling to another site may improve your chances of an earlier appointment.

• We ask that you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your appointment to register at the reception desk. If you are 15-30 minutes late for your appointment, you may need to reschedule. If you are more than 30 minutes late, your appointment will need to be rescheduled unless there are extenuating circumstances.
• To change or cancel your appointment, please notify us at 202-476-2121 at least 24 hours in advance.

Prescription Refills

Prescription refill line: 202-476-2121, select option 2

• Please allow one week to complete all medication requests. When you call in, it may take up to seven business days before your pharmacy is contacted. Call when you are getting low on medication and there are no refills left; never wait until you are out of medication, as we cannot guarantee that you will not have a lapse in your prescription.
• The fastest way to get a prescription refill is to call your pharmacy and ask that they fax a request to us at 202-476-4095. If you call in the request to our office, please be sure to include:
  1. Patient’s name (spell please)
  2. Telephone number
  3. Patient’s date of birth
  4. Complete name of medication or supply
  5. Strength of medication (for example, 10 mg)
  6. Dosing information (for example, take one tablet daily)
  7. Whether you want a one month or three month supply
  8. Phone and fax numbers for the pharmacy, including area codes
• Prescription refills will be done only during business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday. Do not call the on-call physician after hours for prescription refills. If you run out of medication/supplies after hours or on weekends/holidays, you will have to pay out of pocket.
• If you have missed your child's last three appointments and/or have not been seen for nine months or more, prescription refills will be authorized for three months only and will not be re-authorized with refills until your child is seen. Please try to avoid this problem by keeping your appointments and remembering to request prescription needs at the time of your visit.
• If your child with diabetes has not been seen in clinic in more than one year, you must schedule a “PEP” appointment before refills will be authorized.

Emergency Calls

• If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 911.
• The on-call physician can be reached at 202-476-5000 FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY. Please begin by telling the doctor your child’s diagnosis, age and if it is diabetes, when he or she was diagnosed.
• The following are considered emergencies for diabetes patients:
  1. Patient is vomiting food and/or drink (not keeping anything down)
  2. Patient was unconscious or had seizure
  3. Patient has two or more high blood sugars (above 300) with moderate to large urine ketones and/or blood ketone test greater than 1.5mmol/l

All routine questions and concerns should be directed to 202-476-2121 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.