Telemedicine Doctor’s Visit

I was scheduled for a checkup but got a call that the visit would be changed to a video visit online which I completed today. According to the doctor they are having a staffing issue. Well, it’s not the same. They obviously can’t check blood pressure and other vital signs and I am to wait for a call to schedule a future visit and blood work. Good thing I’m in reasonably good health. I hate to think if I wasn’t. I think the bean counters have taken over and management has let them. Medicine has gotten very impersonal. Next time, if there is another telemedicine visit, it might be from some doctor in India.

 

GREAT -
or
at least the doctors and health practitioners IN INDIA are allowed to heal people unlike in the usa and some other countries.

 

I recently had my annual checkup and blood work; the doctor's office called to set up a video call to "review" my results. (I had already seen the blood work numbers in MyChart.) I refused to schedule the appointment. Just another way to milk insurance/medicare IMO.

 

My doctors have patient portals, you sign into for everything, refills, appts, and even notes about your last visit, test results, Cuts way down on unnecessary visits

 

I have the same kind of arrangements

 

I'm a Diabetic II and on medicine for that. I was told that I only need to see my VA doctor once a year and that would be either in-person or computer video. I would think that someone who is a Diabetic II would see their doctor/PCP more than once a year, but. My last VA labs consultations have been over my computer, not in person. Don't know what my next one, this year, will be. My wife, with her PCP, over the computer (virtual) also.

Both wife and I have blood pressure monitors to check our blood pressure, so we don't worry about that.

I had a cell phone conversation with a VA Nurse Practitioner about a new bp medication I was going to take. That phone conversation didn't cost me anything, but the VA did bill, and was paid, by my secondary insurance. My VA Medical isn't an insurance, but my Medicare A/B and Florida Blue is. The Florida Blue is the secondary.

 

The VA is the only one that gave me a call and it was because the scheduled in-person appointment was in the midst of the pandemic.

As in all medical appointments, they’re pretty much an almost necessary inconvenience.
That said and to tell the truth, having my VA doctor give me a call instead of me having to traipse down there, sit around until it’s my turn just to hear her say she’ll schedule me for another appointment next year is so much better.

No one has conquered age thus far so until they do and as long as I stay healthy, I would really like to avoid someone poking around, sticking needles into me and examining orifices that even I approach with caution.

 

Welcome to some mixture of socialized/fascist healthcare which has especially ramped up since Covid.

Socialized systems have no way of controlling costs except to ration care, and that's what they're doing. It will probably get a lot worse before/if it gets better.

Our best hope is for independent clinics that are not connected to the government or insurance companies (one in the same) assuming they will even be allowed in the future.

 

Well, Bobby, as for myself, I didn't/don't mind seeing my VA doctor at all. Whatever I need for "jabs", I get and so does my wife. I don't mind seeing my VA doctors nurse first and getting my vitals checked and answering any questions she asks me. Whether my wife and I see our PCP's in-person or on the computer, we still have to pay for the visit. Mine w/a VA Medical Co-Pay and hers with payment to Medicare, until her yearly deductible is met.

Neither of us are as heathy as you or Yvonne, so for us, seeing a doctor more than once a year is beneficial. Actually, my wife sees her PCP twice a year, but it's been well over a year since she been in his office for a person-to-person appointment.

 

Look Cody. I just made a post. A simple post saying that I would rather not be poked and prodded and I also wrote my druthers and why. With that, I mentioned having a phone appointment with my VA doctor and also said I liked it better.

Do yourself a favor and don’t compare yourself and your wife with me and mine. You have no real idea what my wife has had to go through to get half way healthy and have a productive life. Heck, you just go to a doctor whereas my wife is hooked up to one 24/7/365.
Added to that, it’s apparent that you also have no idea what it took for me to do what I do.
I weighed nearly 300lbs, could only wear coveralls and every organ was shot but after much “doctoring” I made changes with my life because I dislike going to doctors and also dislike dying from stupidity.
Note: Stupidity hasn’t yet been a term used in conjunction with disease albeit with as many people who suffer from stupidity it should be right up there with Covid-19. After all, thus far no one can fix stupid but it can be removed and replaced with smart.

Back to basics:
Chances are, you can beat your diabetes type II the same as others have but as you say, you want to do what you want, eat and drink whatever you want so you’re stuck with it. Without change there will be no change. Period.
Some people like to get jabbed and touched and wear face masks and be a medical mess whereas I do not. Some people like to hang out at the doctor’s office and talk about all their ailments. I don’t.

Again, as long as I stay healthy I would rather just have a phone call from a doctor. My insurance says that I have to see a civilian doctor a couple times a year and if there’s nothing wrong with me, he or she can give me a call. No video though. I hate cameras.