<p>I have received the paperwork for my DS's school and there are medical forms that must be filled out by his physician. Since his last physical was September 2011, he is not due for (and insurance will not pay for) a physical until after that date. What do we do?</p>
<p>I am hoping that other parents may have had a similar situation, and can let me know what worked for them. Thanks!</p>
<p>A physical’s good for a year, so can’t his physician just fill out of the form based on his last physical in September 2011?</p>
<p>Call your DS’s Dr and explain that you have college medical forms that need to be filled out. They should let you drop them off and pick them up at a later date once the Dr has filled them out and signed (ie nurse has filled in all information and Dr. signed). There might be a small fee for this. Your physicians office is probably very familiar with these. As the physical is less then a year old the university should not have any problem with it. They are looking primarily for immunization records.</p>
<p>How our pediatricians dealt with it–if your kid has had a physical within a year, the office would just fill out the paperwork without performing another physical. Call the office and ask them what their policy is.</p>
<p>Agree with blueiguana that shots are the big thing that you’ll want to make sure you’re up to date on. Look through the material that the college sent you to see what extra immunizations the school may require.</p>
<p>Yes, I would be able to do that, but I was concerned about the fact that the year will be up at the beginning of his first semester at school. Would he be able to wait until the holiday break to have another physical? Or would he need to get an updated physical while away at his (pretty rural) college?</p>
<p>The school only cares that you’ve turned in your paperwork before your kid shows up on campus. No other physical will be necessary once you’ve turned in your paperwork.</p>
<p>No, you turn the forms in once prior to their matriculation. Personally, he’ll want to follow up with yearly visits when he can but you don’t have to report to the school. Dentist and Dr’s appointments need to be made well ahead of time to coincide with your students breaks.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks guys. I will bring these forms to the doctor’s office to have them completed.</p>
<p>If your doctor won’t do this or the college requires one in the last 6 months or the like, you can go to a TakeCare or MedExpress or whatever you have there. It’s only $50-$60 or so…good enough to just get the darn paperwork taken care of.</p>
<p>The biggest thing is going to be if he has been vaccinated for Meningococcal meningitis in order to live in the dorm(your insurance carrier may or may not cover this vaccine).</p>
<p>Polio Primary Series (4-5 shot series received in early childhood)</p>
<p>Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) (2) doses Measles, (2) doses Mumps & (1) dose Rubella required. Vaccines will be accepted only if given after 12 months of age and doses are at least 28 days apart</p>
<p>Tetanus-Diphtheria-Pertussis Primary Series (4-5 shot series received in early childhood)</p>
<p>If he has traveled anywhere that there may be a high rate of TB, the school may require TB testing</p>
<p>Faced with a similar issue, as his college requires the physical be in the past 6 months. Also the pediatrician wants him to have a full physical before he leaves in August because of recent blood test results. I called the insurance co. and they said there are certain “codes” the MD can use to get around this issue of “less than a year”.</p>
<p>Urbanparent, Yeah, I will have to look into that, especially since it will expire within the first few weeks of school. Also, he will be playing a sport, so they may need MD clearance for that as well.</p>
<p>We had a similar issue, although our insurance deductible is so high that we never reach it anyway so I didn’t worry about the lack of insurance. Our pediatrician would have filled out the form without an examination, since D has had a physical within the year, but her college requires a TB test, which is not recommended here except for high risk groups and therefore is not included for the annual high school sports physicals. So we ended up having to go in anyway. I wouldn’t worry about your son not having another physical right at the one year mark - there’s no magic to the one year mark for a routine physical and if he gets in to the doctor over Thanksgiving or winter break that would be good enough. Make your appointment in advance, though, because lots of college kids visit their doctors and dentists during breaks. I’ve already made D’s dentist appointment for her first school break, and her dentist wasn’t even remotely concerned that she was going 9 months instead of 6 months between checkups.</p>