Prepare for your appointment with an orthopedic specialist by understanding what we will ask of you and by learning about the roles of the technicians, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, and physicians you will interact with during your evaluation.
What to Expect
Your first appointment with an orthopedic surgeon or physician at Alpine Orthopedics and Sports Medicine will likely include a comprehensive medical history evaluation, physical tests, and may involve either the process of or scheduling of diagnostic imaging using X-Ray and/or MRI to get a better view of the injury.
We try to keep things running smoothly and stick to a schedule, however, we don’t have total control of how long each individual appointment will take. A little patience, especially if your appointment is a little later in the day, is always appreciated.
As a new patient we will often suggest that X-Rays are taken so that we can get a better idea of what is going on with your injury. Often times these X-Rays will be taken before you have seen the clinical staff so that they can review the images prior to meeting with you. If you have had X-Rays taken at a previous location please see if they can provide you with a copy of the X-Rays so that you won’t have to have more taken.
A Physician’s Assistant (PA) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) will likely be the first person you meet after your initial medical billing paperwork. This experienced staff helps focus the physicians on diagnostics and treatment by helping collect important vital information, medical history and broad assessment details. Once that initial examination is done the physician will review the information before meeting with you. They may ask similar questions, clarifying information and will likely do some physical examination and perhaps testing of the injury. If they feel it is warranted they may also schedule some additional diagnostic imaging. Alpine Orthopedics and Sports Medicine can perform a MRI in-house and this can be scheduled once we get your insurance approval.
Once a diagnosis is formed, the physician will lay out the treatment options which may include things like physical therapy, injections, or perhaps surgery as the situation warrants. If surgery is required and meets qualifying conditions, Alpine Orthopedics surgeons can perform the surgery in our on-site same-day surgical center, The Orthopedic Surgical Center of Montana.
Before your appointment, you can prepare by gathering together and bringing:
- Your insurance card and a photo ID.
- Relevant medical records if you have any. This may include copies of X-Rays or other diagnostic imaging and lab tests.
- A written list of medications, supplements and over-the-counter medications you are taking.
- You may print out and pre-fill the paperwork for the physician you will be seeing from the list on this page as well as the additional required paperwork.
- If you have trouble walking, using the restroom or filling out paperwork, consider asking a trusted friend or family member to accompany you.
- We recommend you wear loose, comfortable clothing that is easy to change in and out of to ease any physical examination or imaging that may need to happen.
New Patient Paperwork
Required Paperwork for all Physicians
