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Look to Pediatric Associates of Malden to provide care you can trust. Since 2000 we have provided compassionate healthcare for children in Malden, MA and the adjacent cities. We have three experienced pediatricians and a full team of supporting staff members who are sensitive to the needs of families with diverse economic and ethnic backgrounds. We regularly review our patient satisfaction surveys conducted in the office to find out what needs to be done to further improve our service, as we strive to be the “Medical Home” for our patients. Our physicians are members of the Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s.
We are open 365 days a year unless there is a true snow emergency. If calling after hours, our friendly answering service will forward your message to the physician-on-call.
Please use the Symptom Checker to help you learn about some of the common pediatric problems that you can manage without necessarily going to the Emergency Department. You can always contact us to schedule for sick visits.
Seeing children and parents at regular intervals is important in maintaining your child’s health. Evaluating growth and development, discussing safety, nutrition, behavior and answering age related questions are the functions of well child/adolescent visits.
Other health management services include:
Asthma — Proper Nutrition — Obesity — Attention Deficit
All 3 doctors have a working affiliation with the Children’s Hospital, Boston and with the Melrose-Wakefield Hospital.
Dr. Tien-Lan Chang has practiced as a specialist in pediatric gastroenterology since 1987 and in general pediatrics since 2000. In 2008 he gave up the part-time practice of pediatric gastroenterology at Mass. General Hospital to devote fully to general pediatrics in Malden. He is fluent in English and Chinese (Mandarin).
Dr. Austin Liu grew up in the Greater Boston area and was trained in pediatrics in Memphis, Tennessee. He practiced in Georgia for 4 years and joined P.A.M. in 2006.
Dr. Maura K. Shea had pediatric training in Cincinnati, OH and Providence, R.I. She worked at neighborhood health centers in Boston, MA from 2001 to 2008 before joining P.A.M.
Many insurances require a co-pay at the time of service. If you do not pay your co-pay at the time of service, your account will be charged an additional $10.00.
We will submit a claim to all primary and secondary insurances. Please remember to bring your current insurance cards to your appointment. Once your insurance company has processed your claim, we will bill you for the remaining balance that you are responsible for, as determined by your insurance plan, such as deductables and co-insurances. Payments are expected upon receipt of your statement. We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Cash, Checks, Debit Cards and Money Orders.
We assign all unpaid accounts to an outside collection agency that reports to a national credit bureau. They will add additional penalties and interest to the unpaid amount.
If you are uninsured, or if we are unable to verify coverage, we require a $100.00 payment at your first visit which will be applied to your charges. If charges exceed the $100.00 we will send you a statement.
Physicians must follow accepted national guidelines when determining what your charges (level of service) will be. They must code your visit based upon what services were provided and cannot take into account particular health plan benefit designs. Consequently we are unable to switch the visit reason and diagnosis in order for a claim to be covered by your insurance. If you think there is an error on your account, please contact the billing office immediately. We will review your concern with the physician and let you know the outcome.
You should contact your insurance company as soon as possible after your child has been born. Most health plans allow 30 days to add your newborn to your insurance plan. If you have coverage through OMAP, you MUST contact your caseworker immediately. Your caseworker will provide you with a temporary identification card. If you are unable to provide proof of insurance after your baby’s two-week appointment, we will charge you in full for services rendered.
· If you are unable to keep your appointment, please call at least 24 hours in advance to cancel.
· Patient visits at Pediatric Associates of Malden are by appointment only. Every sibling will need to have an appointment in order to be seen by the doctor.
· Please bring your current insurance card to every appointment, and alert the receptionist of any changes when checking in for your appointment.
· Insurance co-payments are due at the time of the visit.
Newsletter January 2021
Greetings to our patients and families.
We have seen an increased number of patients coming in for testing of COVID19 after the holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. We have also received a number of calls about testing after exposure to COVID19. So I would like to try to explain our policy for testing. First, a little background information is perhaps a bit helpful to understand our policy.
The most likely time for a person to develop symptoms after exposure is in the period of 2-7 days after exposure, but rarely someone can develop symptoms after 7 days, so current guideline about the duration for quarantine after exposure to someone with COVID19 is 14 days. Most people (80-90% of adults, 90-99% of children) who have mild symptoms will recover after 10 days, and that is why the guideline for patients who test positive for COVID19 is to stay in quarantine for 10 days. Viral shedding has been documented to continue in some patients up to 6 weeks. So for patients who come out of quarantine, wearing a mask is still recommended.
The purpose of testing for COVID19 is to find out if a person has the infection and therefore potentially infectious to others. If a person is already in quarantine due to exposure, he is not going to spread the infection, and therefore he does not need to be tested in the quarantine period. If a person is coming out of quarantine at the end of 14 days, he may need to get tested to see if he may be an asymptomatic carrier, per school or work requirement. Getting tested in the middle of a quarantine period (e.g. 1-4 days after exposure) while asymptomatic does not help that patient or anyone else, as he still needs to remain in quarantine. We had tested some patients in that situation and tests had come back negative, and then a few days later, the patients developed symptoms consistent with COVID19. The tests we did on those patients were therefore falsely providing a sense of relief and wasteful in retrospect.
We have only a limited number of test kits. We need to ask ourselves whether a test result, positive or negative, will affect care for a particular patient or any contacts of the patient.
Therefore our policy is to limit the test, restricting it to 1. patients who have symptoms that are possibly due to COVID19; 2. patients who are at the end of a quarantine period, and only if their schools or workplaces require a negative test result to return.
Beyond these two categories of patients, there may be patients who have “extenuating” circumstances and want to be tested. These patients will be referred by our front desk staff to speak to a physician first before scheduling a visit for testing. For any patient or parent who do not agree with our policy, there are free test sites that the state runs. One can find them by googling “Stop the Spread” online.
The COVID vaccines are being administered to health care workers in the Phase One of the state vaccination program. Some of our staff (myself included) have received them already and will get the second dose 1 month later. The general public (adults) will be vaccinated in Phase Three in the Spring. Clinical trials in children 12 years and older are being done for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines before they can be approved for mass immunization. My hope is that children will be vaccinated this summer. So there is light at the end of the tunnel. Happy New Year.
Sincerely,
Tien-Lan Chang, M.D.
Pediatric Associates of Malden
Pediatric Assosiates of Malden
105 Commercial St.
Malden, MA 02148
Phone: 781-322-5101
Hours Of Operation:
Monday - Friday
9am - 8pm
Saturday, Sunday & Holidays
9am - 1pm
