That my cardiologist tells me something I don't know That a nurse from a clinic calls me with my test result. She is too busy That a pharmacy in the same chain near me give me one pill until I can get a refill from my doctor? One lousy cholesterol pill. Not their policy Am I asking too much?
Many of the doctors today have a patient portal where you can look up your records and also see lab results. Usually, the doctor or nurse will call of there is a problem, and not if everything looks okay, so it is probably a good sign if she didn’t call you. Maybe talk with your doctor about getting your prescriptions sent out to you in a timely fashion ? I have a Humana advantage plan, and get all of my meds from Humana. The doctor gives me a 3 month ex for the ones I always take, and Humana just sends me refills well before I run out. The things you are asking for are not too much to expect, but you might have to spend some time getting it set up at first.
On the few occasions I've had to phone in for blood test results, it's never really bothered me, they have been so few and far between. As I don't take any prescribed pills, I've never been in a situation where I've needed to get just one, so can't say if it would bother me or not if I couldn't get one. I suppose it would depend on the nature of the situation.
Fifty / Sixty or so years ago, what you’re asking for was common place and some doctor’s even made house calls. Alas, things have indeed moved on to look something akin to production line medicine and even getting that one pill from a chain based pharmacy is gone for fear of some law suit. Still, as @Yvonne Smith has noted, the computer world is upon us and we can access whatever information the good doctor has to offer including our blood work. Do note though that any medical advice coming from Alexa or Siri is iffy at best and it would be more favorable to go directly to the patient portal if your medical practitioner is hooked up to such an application. Now, in order to do that you may have to call the overweight receptionist at the doctor’s office to get that link and the password but fear not, you may actually get an immediate answer instead of being put on hold for 20 minutes or so. Now, as far as that cholesterol pill goes, after printing out one’s blood work and advice, perhaps a wadded up piece of printer paper would suffice in the pill’s stead? I mean, if anything else it would be adding to one’s fiber intake……..
I actually had my GP call me a few weeks ago when he had put me on antibiotics for a mild case of diverticulitis, and then got the results of a subsequent CT scan. There was still infection so he called me to discuss it. I was shocked. My last doctor of 25 years would always call me to review my lab results. I've been seeing this guy since 2010 and I think this is the first call he's made to me. I recently had an extensive lab workup by a nephrologist and all that got posted on the online Patient Portal were the lab results...there was no doctor write-up whatsoever, much less a phone call. In fact, I left a message on the 19th of last month asking when I was gonna get an analysis rather than me reviewing the raw data myself, and I've not heard back. Of course, those who are without internet or the skills to go find their records online (and read them) are out of luck. Regarding pharmacists handing out meds...I bet it's illegal. Even one little ol' Lipitor or Crestor. Thank the lawyers and the regulators.
I like being able to look at the patient portal and seeing what the results of my labs are ! I also discovered that i can link mu Apple Health account with the patient portal, so now all of the lab results are also right there on my phone. I had labs done last week, and they were on my phone by the next day ! I think that you are correct about pharmacists not being bale to just dispense prescription drugs with out a prescription from the doctor. My doctors are always good at making sure that I have enough refills that it is never a problem, and Humana just ships everything out to me on schedule, so I am never even low on any of my heart meds.
Several women on the breast cancer forum have reported that they learned they had cancer from "MyChart" patient portal before they heard from their doctor. I know that when I get lab results or whatever, I get a text notification that I have the results (or messages, or appointments, etc.) in MyChart. They also let me know if I have a bill that I need to pay.
That's horrible. I often wondered if patient-posting such a diagnosis would be delayed until an oncologist talked to you. Lots of weird logistics and "you kinda already know" by the time you connect with a human MD. Do you think that posting such a result violated protocol? Just last month I had a CT scan on a Thursday morning and kept my eye out for the radiologist report all that day, Friday, over the weekend and all day Monday, and it was not posted. My doctor called me 5PM Monday to discuss the results and they were still not visible until late Tuesday or Wednesday. It had me kinda worried, thinking there was a reason they held them back from my view.
Nope. Your government at work. "On April 5, 2021, the 21st Century Cures Act began requiring healthcare providers to give patients access to all health information without delay. This means that MyChart users are now able to see all of their lab, test, and imaging results as soon as they become available – often before your healthcare provider has the chance to see them. Previously, your healthcare provider would review results before they would be released to you through MyChart. While some people are happy to see results immediately, others may be uncomfortable or anxious seeing results before a provider can interpret and explain them. If you would prefer not to see your results at the same time they are sent to your provider, please let your provider know when the lab or test is ordered so that he or she can hold the results until you can be contacted."
In early December I got all the lab reports my nephrologist ordered and he's yet to make an analysis. But as I said, my CT scan was not on my portal until a day or two after my doctor called me with the results. These are both on the MyChart portal and both UVA Health System doctors. Like you, I get an email when things are available (although I kept looking for that CT scan without having received notice.) I wonder what the process for uploading them to the patient side is...one would think availability would be simultaneous absent some exception-basis intervention. Even if it were bad news, I'd want the opportunity to do a little research and have questions for that call from the doctor.
If you connect your patient portal with your Apple Health app on your phone, you might get the results faster, it sure worked for me. I had the results before they even reached my doctor. Plus, it backtracked from earlier lab results, so I have a way to see what the results have done over the last few years, and the apple health app makes it really easy because it organizes everything for me. On the health app, go to “browse” and then scroll down to the part about health records, and you can link up with your doctors that have a portal.
No, just not the right questions as far as I know. Why take a cholesterol pill ? Why not find out what is not harmful and helps a thousand times more ? Is there any chance at all you can find a doctor or a health giver who knows what to do instead of toxic drugs ? If you're not interested , no worries, you will have lots of company, a lot more than those who care.
I don't know how to interpret the data on my patient portal, so I prefer a personal call to explain The medicine is free and works..I don't follow diets very well or supplements. the pharmacy that dispensed the med would give me one but I chose to visit another because of convenience. This is very minor. My issue is with cardiologists. In my experience they are brief, curt, superficial, indifferent.They have so many patients they could not spend time even if they wanted to. It's in and out. See ya later.
Recently the topic of patient portals was discussed on another thread (maybe @John Brunner 's Urodynamics discussion). Interesting that this popped up today... In Politico today, there's an article about doctors lobbying the HHS against immediate release of test results & other electronic data in patient portals, as has been required for more than a year now. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/09/doctors-test-results-patients-00076843 I realize it may be difficult for some people to get the bad news from a computer screen, and others may not understand what they are reading there. But I want access to my results immediately and at this point in my medical treatment, I am able to understand what I see in my records. I have a choice - if I feel like I can't handle looking at my scan results, I just don't look and I wait for my appointment with the doctor. What's your take on this?