How to Reach Your Doctor During COVID-19 & Prepare for a FaceTime Office Visit? Believe it or not, in order to reach your healthcare provider during COVID-19, all you need to do is call or sign up for the patient portal. Many primary care offices have electronic medical records with patient portals to communicate with your doctor. Establish a relationship with an urgent care clinic if you do not have a doctor.
Just call the urgent care and the staff will tell you the best way to establish care. Now that you know how to contact your health care provider, I will discuss how to prepare for a virtual or Facetime visit in the remainder of this post.
You might be skeptical about going to your doctor’s office to be seen for your medical problem due to COVID-19. It’s hard to get an appointment for your routine visit because your doctor’s office is overwhelmed with testing or cases.
You do not have to worry if you have a smartphone, iPad, or computer; most doctors or providers have access to the internet and facetime visits to take care of your needs. Your visits will likely be paid for by your insurance, and if you have Medicare or Medicaid you are in luck. Medicare or Medicaid will automatically cover your visit.
If you are not sure if your insurance will cover your visit, call them. Call the 800 number on the back of your insurance card and ask your insurance company. Insurance providers have prepared for this question in most cases and they may have a recorded answer ready for you when you call. Calling your insurance company would only take a few minutes.
What Can You Schedule a Facetime Appointment For?
Your doctor may have restrictions for office visits due to the pandemic and social distancing. If your doctor requests a Facetime visit, it might be a good idea to be prepared for the visit.
You can schedule a Facetime appointment with your health care provider for uncontrolled blood pressure or medication side effects. You can call your doctor to schedule a virtual appointment for prescription refills, swelling in your face, hands, or feet. High or low blood pressure or anything else that you are concerned about would need a virtual appointment. A follow-up appointment would be good for a Facetime or virtual appointment too. All of these are perfect concerns for a Facetime or virtual visit.
If you need blood work, an x-ray, MRI, ultrasound, or urine sample done, your doctor can order these tests. There are lab and radiology companies where you can go to have these tests done. Your doctor would send the order for the testing to a lab or radiology company near you using the computer. You could also pick up the order from your provider’s office and bring it to the lab or radiology company.
How to Reach Your Doctor?
Doing a virtual appointment using Facetime, Zoom, or other phone apps may save you a trip to the emergency room. Your doctor will talk with you about your problem and tell you how to manage your problem.
Your healthcare provider can also send any prescription that you need to your pharmacy using the internet. A physical exam may be substituted by specific questions about your health and any additional data will be helpful.
How to Prepare
Here are the tools you will need to collect the data that your doctor needs to make an accurate assessment: a validated thermometer, a validated blood pressure monitor, a validated pulse oximeter, a validated scale.
At least an hour before your virtual appointment, measure and record your temperature, blood pressure (3 measurements 1 minute apart, pulse oximeter value, and your weight.
Write down your exact concern and what you think the problem is.
Currently, research has shown that Facetime visits are just as effective as visiting a doctor’s office.
Before Your Visit
Call your insurance company and ask if the visit will be covered by your insurance. Find out about any out of pocket expenses that may be required.
Gather your health information and be ready to provide your doctor with your pharmacist’s phone number. Your health information includes your allergies (medication, food, seasonal), all your health issues, and your complete medication list (dose, frequency).
Take your temperature, pulse oximeter, and weight and provide your doctor with these values.
Have your blood pressure log handy to refer to but generally your doctor will be interested in your blood pressure and heart rate ranges. For example, look over your log and write down the highest and lowest number for your systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) blood pressures. Write this range down to be available to inform your doctor.
Write down any questions you may have.
During Your Visit
Being prepared and knowing what to expect may reduce your stress and help you get the most out of your visit. You will be connected to a nurse tech or a nurse when you are connected to the call. You will be asked to give verbal consent to be on the visit.
The office staff will remind you that your visit may be limited due to the digital platform without a physical exam. The physical exam is probably the only difference between a face-to-face visit and a virtual Facetime visit. Nevertheless, if you have any physical concerns, take a picture and send it to your provider or show during the visit.
The office staff will ask you if you are able to freely discuss your health concerns and medical record. There is unlikely to be a security breach using Facetime or any virtual visit platform. There is no way to guarantee complete security using these platforms.
Start the visit out by telling your doctor the reason for the visit. You can say, “I wanted to meet to follow up my blood pressure”; or, “I am concerned because my blood pressure has been running high lately”.
Review with your doctor your health history and the information covered above.
Share at least 12-14 recent blood pressure measurements and ask for any medication refills. Feel free to give a range for your blood pressure measurements. Discuss any concerns you may have and ask questions.
After Your Visit
At the end of the visit, be ready with possible follow up visit dates. Write down the outcome of the visit and what was discussed including your recommendations. Follow any recommendations, and put your health history in a safe place for any future visits. Pick up any refills from the pharmacy and ask your pharmacist for an overview of the medication.
Conclusion
Your healthcare provider wants to take care of you and wants to keep you out of the emergency room. If your needs cannot be handled virtually, you will likely be seen face-to-face or be sent to the emergency room. The emergency room is reserved for people who are very sick and need emergency care. Currently, surgeries are likely to be reserved for people who have urgent emergencies.
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