Neurosurgery Frequently Asked Questions

If you are experiencing a life-threatening problem, you should call 911 immediately or go to the nearest emergency room. If you wish to reach your BWH Neurosurgeon in case of emergency, please call 617-732-6660 to have your doctor paged.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery
Hale Building for Transformative Medicine
Neurosciences Center, 1st floor
Clinic Address: 60 Fenwood Road Boston, MA 02115
Mailing Address: 75 Francis Street, BTM 4, Boston, MA 02115

See our full list of practice locations here

Contact us:
Tel: 617-732-6600
Fax: 617-713-3050

The Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital is open from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Consultations with physicians and nurses are by appointment only. Please expect telephone calls to be returned by your doctor’s office within two business days.

Please call our Patient Service Center (PSC) at 1-866-489-4056 to obtain a medical record number, blue hospital card, and/or update patient information.

The Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital accepts most insurance plans. Please contact your medical insurance company to determine your coverage and if a primary care physician (PCP) referral is needed for your neurosurgery visit.

Our office must receive your referral number prior to your appointment from the office of your primary care provider. If you have any questions, please call during normal business hours from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 617-732-6600.

Please keep a copy of the referral number for your own record.

If you will be more than 15 minutes late to your appointment, please call 617-732-6600, or your physician's office directly to make alternate visit arrangements.

Please call us 24 hours prior to your appointment time if you are unable to attend your scheduled consultation. Due to our high volume of patients, we will not be able to accommodate you after three missed appointments if you have not called to cancel the visit.

If prior authorization is needed for a medication to be covered by your insurance, you must ask your pharmacist to contact our office with the phone number needed to request the prior authorization. Please allow at least two business days to get a response from your insurance company.

Regular follow-up appointments must be scheduled in order for your doctor to continue prescribing medication for you.

When you have 10 tablets left in your bottle, call your pharmacy. If you have no refills remaining, you will need to call our office to request more refills. Have your medication bottle available and call 617-732-6600 to request a refill. Please allow two full business days for completion of medication refill requests.

You will be notified by phone of a critically abnormal lab result on the same day it is received. For non-urgent or normal lab results, you will receive a letter from your physician within two weeks after the results are received.

To obtain copies of your medical records, please contact the BWH Medical Records Department at 617-732-4939. You will need to sign a release for them.

Please be aware that we will not release any medical information until you have signed the “Authorization for Release/Receipt of Protected or Privileged Health Information” form (Authorization forms are available at the Neurosurgery Practice front desk).

Please bring the forms with you to your visit. Please expect 10 business days for all forms to be filled out or letter requests to be written. You should request in writing and sign a release for the specific information needed in the letter. Please call us at 617-732-6600 during normal business hours if you have any questions.