Flu is popping up here and there and we still haven’t received H1N1 vaccine at our clinic. I am hearing that we might get a few doses in the next week or so.
Nurse phone lines are being planned by the MN state dept of health to accommodate concerned patients.
I am working to improve accessibility along with a number of other clinicians at my HealthPartners clinic by adding scheduled telephone visits and continuing to make available e-visits for patients who may be ill, or have other medical problems and want an alternative to a clinic visit.
It has been a challenge to set up the phone visits as it goes against the tradition of requiring a face-to-face visit (basically required for providers to be reimbursed in the traditional fee-for-service scheme we have been hearing so much about in the national health care public debate) and some clinicians and clinic staff are reluctant to change- BUT we do have these on the schedule now and I hope to have more day to day phone /evisit availability soon.
Why virtual care?- not exposing others or being exposured to flu bugs for one reason. No three hour time commitments to go to the clinic and sit in a waiting room. Lab tests if needed, can be ordered and performed separately with little wait.
Some situations require a face-to-face visit- but many do not. Phone and e-visits are appropriate for many conditions and concerns. Recent phone and evisits I have done have been for hypertension, diabetes, and heart conditions.
Scheduled phone visits are part of a pilot program at my clinic. To arrange a phone visit- call Arden Hills Clinic directly (only available at AH clinic and a couple of other selected clinics). eVisits- as always, can be initiated ANY time via HealthPartners.com.
John Butler, MD
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.