Your Upcoming Appointment

Please bring to your appointment:

• Your current insurance card
• Medication list and/or prescription bottles
• And –if you are being referred to UTMB– any provider records or radiology films from your non-UTMB provider 

Be sure to review “Important steps for patients under 18” if bringing a child under the age of 18.

Parents and Guardians:  

Per law, only persons listed on a birth certificate, or legally appointed guardians may consent for the treatment of a child. All court documents concerning custody/guardianship must be on file. If you are unable to accompany your child to an appointment, a delegation of consent or letter stating who will be responsible for consenting at the visit is required and must be authenticated.  

• Delegation of Consent for Immunization of a minor (PDF) 
• Delegation of Consent for the Treatment of a minor (PDF) 

Identification will be required of all people bringing a minor to a visit. 

If a non-parent needs access to the record, fill out the Release of information form (PDF) for proxy access for access for 1 year.   

Prepare for your child's visit 

Arrival: 

• Parents of new patients should check in at the clinic registration desk 30 minutes before their scheduled visit.
• Parents of current patients should check in 15 minutes before their scheduled visit. 

What to Bring: 

• In order to receive the best care, assemble the information below about your child and bring it to your clinic visit. 
• A list of questions you want to be sure to ask during your visit. 
• Proof of health insurance (insurance card or policy), or documents required to apply for financial assistance. 
• Your photo ID or UTMB identification number. 
• A list of questions you may want to ask your doctor. 
• Unless prior arrangements have been made, UTMB requires payment for the cost of outpatient services not payable by insurance coverage at the time of your visit. 
• A list of all medications and dosages your child is taking. 
• Other pertinent medical information, such as lab reports, x-rays or a summary of the child’s medical history. 
• Immunization records. 

Call If You Develop These Symptoms 

If your appointment is for something other than COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms, please notify the clinic PRIOR to arriving if you have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 10 days or have ANY of the following symptoms: 

• Fever 
• Nonproductive persistent cough 
• Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing 
• Chills or repeated shaking with chills 
• Muscle pain (including new onset low back pain), joint pain, extreme fatigue 
• Diarrhea 
• New loss of taste or smell 
• Sore throat 
• Headache 
• Conjunctivitis (red eye with discharge) 

Clinic Visitor & Masking Requirements 

UTMB Visitor & Masking Requirements 
(as of Feb. 14, 2023) 

UTMB Health clinics welcome visitors. The type and number of visitors present in the exam or procedure room may be restricted or limited by staff as clinically necessary to facilitate care and ensure patient privacy. 

Patients and visitors are currently not required to wear face masks while in UTMB Health clinics. 

• Routine masking of patients and visitors is not required in UTMB hospitals, emergency departments and clinic settings.  
• Visitors are required to don appropriate personal protective equipment when visiting patients under isolation. 

Please note: This policy is subject to change based on COVID-19 infection and hospitalization data for our region. 

A Note About Screening Questions 

You will be asked screening questions when making your appointment and may hear similar questions from the clinical team. This repetition is part of our verification and safety process and is designed with your health in mind. It ensures we get the correct information for the right person and allows our team members to better serve you. 

UTMB follows the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding the appropriate use of service animals in our clinics and other facilities.

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties.

Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA and are not allowed in UTMB facilities.

Need to Cancel or Reschedule?

If you are unable to keep an existing appointment at UTMB, please reschedule or cancel it, so that we may offer that time to another patient. To cancel or reschedule, you may use MyChart or call your clinic.

No Show/Missed Appointment Policy 

At the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB Health), we understand that you may at times need to cancel or reschedule an appointment due to emergencies or other unexpected issues. If you are unable to keep your appointment, please notify us at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment time. You can reschedule or cancel appointments by calling your clinic or by contacting our 24/7 Access Center at (409) 772-2222 or (800) 917-8906. You can also use the MyChart app to cancel appointments or contact your clinic, as well as for many other communication functions. Visit MyChart.

To ensure that each patient is given the proper amount of time allotted for their visit and to enable us to provide the highest quality care to everyone, it is very important for each scheduled patient to attend their visit on time. As a courtesy, we provide an appointment reminder by text message starting 28 days in advance of your appointment. Appointment confirmation and reminder texts also are sent seven, four and one days prior to the appointment date. You can cancel directly from these notifications as well as reschedule through MyChart if needed. You may also receive a call from the clinic regarding your appointment. It is your responsibility to arrive for your appointment on time even if you do not receive a reminder.

PLEASE REVIEW THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES

1. Please notify the clinic or UTMB Health Access Center at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment if you need to change or cancel your reserved time. We keep a list of patients who need to be seen by our clinicians and, when possible, we offer cancelled appointments to patients on our waiting list to provide more timely care.
2. If you cancel your appointment in less than 24 hours or do not arrive at the clinic for your appointment at the designated time, it will be documented as a “No-Show/Missed” appointment.
3. After a “No-Show/Missed” appointment, you will receive a text, MyChart message, or letter notifying you of the missed appointment. 
4. If you have three “No-Show/Missed” appointments with a particular clinic, your records will be reviewed, and you may not be able to schedule any future appointments with that clinic. If that occurs, you will be notified by letter of UTMB Health’s decision regarding your scheduling status.

We ask you and all UTMB Health System patients to plan appointments accordingly and to notify the clinic or the UTMB Health Access Center promptly if you have difficulty keeping your scheduled appointment(s).

We appreciate you choosing UTMB Health, and we look forward to providing excellent care to you!