Preparing for Your Multi-Disciplinary Appointment
You are scheduled for an appointment to meet with our multidisciplinary breastcare team at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
This is to help you understand what is needed prior to your appointment at the BreastCare Center.
Susan Cohen, our BreastCare Coordinator, reviewed the time and date for your appointment, but if you have any questions she can be reached at (617) 667-2900, option 2.
Please begin the following process prior to your appointment:
- If your insurance is a managed care plan that requires referrals please call your primary care doctor and receive referrals for the following all physicians that you will be seeing ie: Breast Surgery Medical Oncology Radiation Oncology
- If your breast imaging and breast biopsy were done within the BIDMC system you will not need to arrange for pathology and imaging to be sent to us. We will take care of coordinating all of this information.
- If your breast imaging and breast biopsy were done outside of the BIDMC system we will need you to do the following as soon as possible:
1) Fax the following information to 617- 667- 9711. You may be able to obtain some this information from your primary care physician
- All breast imaging reports breast MRI, Mammograms and Ultrasounds
- from the past 3 years
- All pathology reports from all biopsies and breast surgeries
- Recent health and physical from your primary care physician
- Operative Reports from your surgery
2) Please arrange to have all of your breast imaging sent to us by calling the Radiology Film Library at the facility where your have had your breast imaging done.
If the imaging can be sent by overnight express please have it sent to the address below otherwise you will need to pick up and hand carry over to us all of your breast imaging (MRI’s Mammograms and Ultrasounds from the past 3 years). Please make sure that they print off actual copies (xrays) of your images.
A CD disc may not work on our system - we need the mammograms and ultrasounds printed out. An MRI may come as a CD disc.
3) Contact the Pathology Department at the facility where you had your biopsy and/or surgery and arrange to have your pathology slides sent to us at the address below.
If you had both a core biopsy and an excision make sure that both sets of slides are sent.
We will need the slides from your estrogen and progesterone receptors as well as from the her2neu if this was done.
Our address is:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
BreastCare Center
330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215 Atten: Susan Cohen Shapiro 550
4) We need you to fill out a “patient intake” sheet. (click to download). Please write your name and date of birth on the sheets and then feel free to fax 617- 667- 9711
Resources before your visit
We suggest the following reading to help you prepare for your visit:
Guide to Understanding Treatment Decisions which can be downloaded here
Also, click here to view information about the Quality Care Iniative through the National Breast Caner Coalition
You will also receive additional information about Breast Cancer at your visit, but this will help you begin thinking about your options.
We also have an active support group for women newly diagnosed with Breast Cancer and this group meets every Tuesday.
For further information about this support group please contact Hester Hill Schnipper, LICSW at 617 667-2661
Please see our Living with Breast Cancer Blog also written by Hester Hill Schnipper.
You are welcome to bring family members and friends with you to the appointment.
We suggest you park in the Shapiro lot for proximity and validation. The entrance is on Binney Street, which is under the building, located off Longwood Avenue.
After two hours of parking, patients are eligible for a reduced parking rate. To obtain this, parking tickets can be validated at the Information Desk in both the Shapiro and Feldberg lobbies. Parking stickers for discounted or free parking only pertain to treatment appointments. Please note that the cashiers for the parking garages are located in the lobbies as well.
Again, please do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Susan R. Cohen, BreastCare Coordinator
617-667-2900
