Delavan Pediatrics, LLC

09/11/2026

PUBLIC NOTICE:
I have made the difficult decision to close the practice to new patients for the foreseeable future. The exception is new babies born into current practice families or foster children in current practice families. There will be no waiting list, and I have no expectation of when the practice will open back up to new families. When the practice is again accepting new patients that notice will be posted to Facebook. As always, we are unable to complete any forms for children who are not patients here. For those seeking a provider, Springfield Clinic Pediatrics in Morton has providers who share some of the same philosophies about medical care as Dr. Flint.

This decision became necessary due to a rapidly filling schedule and the inability to get patients scheduled for routine and chronic care appointments in a timely manner while keeping some slots open each day for illness and other acute needs. Most importantly, I do not want to get so busy that I am not able to provide the care and medical knowledge that I should to my patients.

Thank you for understanding.

08/07/2026

We will be short-staffed over the next 4-6 weeks (or so) as Shannon will be out of the office. It will just be Dr. Flint and Anna during this time and on some days Emma will be here too. For medical questions it is going to be best to use the patient portal. This will allow Dr. Flint to respond directly to your questions in between patients through the day. If you don't have portal access, call the office and Anna can get you set up. Thank you for your patience.

08/04/2026

We have had frequent comments over the past month about the questions you asked to complete online with appointment self-check-in. These questions are for the medical record (history, allergies, medications, etc). These answers do not populate into the forms that you will need for school and sports. It would certainly be nice if they did but our system isn't that fancy yet. When you arrive for your appointment you will have to complete the questions on the school physical form and the sports physical forms. The state of Illinois has not yet figured out a way to combine the school and sports physicals into one form. Thank you for your understanding amidst the frustrations of paperwork.

07/08/2026

Schedule Update 7/8/26:
Thank you everyone for your patience. We are doing our best to accommodate the need for school and sports physicals. We have received a number of calls that have ended in frustration for families. As most of the available slots for physicals prior to the start of school have filled up by now, those that are now just calling, for one reason or another, have become frustrated by the lack of availability. As of today, we currently are scheduling into late September or early October and potentially later if multiple children are needing to be seen at the same time. Over the years we have gotten into a cycle where the months of July, August, and September have become our busiest and most stressful months. This has happened as we have accommodated the need for appointments over the summer and this continues year after year due to insurance limitations. Some insurance companies will pay for 1 wellness visit every calendar year whereas others will only pay once every 12 months. We do not know which plans operate in which way but rely on families to know what is covered by their insurance. This has got us into the cycle of treating everyone as once every 12 months (or more like every 11-11.5 months due to some allowances by the insurance companies). Also, since we draw patients from many miles away, we do like to help make it easier for families traveling here by grouping multiple children at the same time. This causes the slots we have to fill up quickly. If circumstances were ideal, which they are not, children would be seen around their birthdays and this would spread well visit needs throughout the year. However, this is not what works for everybody and we are doing our best to accommodate.

While navigating the needs for school and sports physicals we have to keep some slots available for same day illnesses, newborns, and regular infant well child checks that are needed every 2-3 months. In recent weeks we have had a mini-baby boom with an increase in newborns. A newborn that comes in today is going to need a visit in 2 weeks and again at 2 months, so that one important patient right away takes 3 available slots in a 2 month span.

We have appreciated the understanding of so many of you that have called for appointments. We know it is frustrating when there is a deadline and a slot isn’t available. This time of year we also experience an increase in the number of families wanting to join the practice. I have avoided closing the practice to new patients but at some point this may become necessary. For now, while we have continued to accept new patients, we can register your children but we are unable to schedule visits for new patients until early October.

I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused both established and prospective families, and I am looking at ways to help prevent this from continuing to happen every summer.

Thank you

06/16/2026

Due to cost and administrative headaches associated with keeping vaccines, I have discontinued stocking vaccines in the office. For families wanting vaccinations I am still able to help determine what can be received according to vaccine history and the childhood vaccine schedule but I will no longer be administering them here. For patients on Medicaid you will need to use the health department. For those on private insurance, children under 3-4 years of age will need to use the health department while children above 4 years of age can receive them through pharmacies such as CVS or Walgreens (note: there is some variability among locations as to the minimum age they will serve, so check first with the pharmacy).

05/28/2026

The office will be closed Friday, May 29 through all of next week. We will back in the office on Monday, June 8. Please utilize the patient portal for any routine questions, medication refills, or scheduling requests. I will be checking the portal daily while out of the office.

05/22/2026

For some reason many of the area hospitals/labs are not automatically (or inconsistently at best) sending the office results from labs being done. Every order has our office fax number included but I am not sure why this keeps happening. The only system I have access to is the OSF system but I have to know that a test has been done in order to go look for it. When you go to a lab ensure that they will send the results to fax number on the order. If you do not hear from me within 2 days of a test being done, please call or message to let me know and I will have my staff call to get a report faxed. Once I receive lab results I will typically send a portal message with the results unless the results are more complicated where a phone call is better. My apologies for any delays in getting back with results that have been caused by these labs.

05/19/2026

SCHEDULE UPDATE:
We are scheduling into late August for school and sports physicals for established and new patients. Current openings in the schedule are set aside for acute concerns, medication follow ups, newborn exams, and infant wellness exams. We are currently accepting new families to the practice though appointment availability will be limited until late August and early September.

05/18/2026

Today we welcome Anna who will be filling in at the front desk and helping Shannon for the next 9 months while Emma completes additional training. We are excited to have her with us.

09/12/2025

There has been an increase this year in cases of insurance companies denying payment for annual wellness visits that are done too early. Generally, most insurances allow some leeway (usually 4 weeks) with scheduling and we aim to schedule no earlier than 11 months in keeping with the 4 week leeway. However some insurance plans will only pay for one wellness visit every 12 months. We have had a couple denials for scheduling 1 day short of 12 months. On our end, there is no way for us to know what window is allowable for every insurance plan. While we will continue to schedule the next annual well visit following a current visit, please verify with your insurance that this date will be covered. If there is an issue with the date we have scheduled, we will reschedule the visit accordingly. Thanks.

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