Not me – I have a Direct Primary Care doctor:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The next time you message your doctor to ask about a pesky cough or an itchy rash, you may want to check your bank account first — you could get a bill for the question. Hospital systems around the country are rolling out fees for some messages that patients send to physicians, who they say are spending an increasing amount of time poring over online queries, some so complex that they require the level of medical expertise normally dispensed during an office visit.
Source: Want to email your doctor? You may be charged for that | AP News
I see my doctor in person just once or twice per year. Most contact is via secure email, telephone or one Zoom call (when I had hepatitis earlier this year).
Regarding the latter, I emailed my symptoms early in the morning. By 8:20am, my doctor’s office manager called and asked if I could do a Zoom conference call at 10 am. Based on that interaction, I was given a preliminary diagnosis of hepatitis and lab tests were ordered. One hour later I was at a lab local to my home – in two hours had results that were confirming the hepatitis diagnosis, with final results at 4pm and a follow up call before 5 pm that confirmed the diagnosis.
Because I am a Direct primary care patient, there was no additional charge except for the lab work. DPC wins! My doctor and his staff are awesome, efficient, and convenient. He provides the clearest patient education of any health care provider I have ever had and always takes whatever time is needed to get to the root cause of an issue.
When I was traveling out of the country earlier this year, my knee blew out and I could barely walk. I contacted him via email and within hours he responded to have me take part of a tablet of medication I carry with me for food allergies, and to purchase an over-the-counter NSAID type medication that is non-prescription in the country I was in (it’s prescription only in the U.S.) That he knew this blew me away! I hobbled 500 feet to a drugstore, got the meds – and within 3 hours had significant relief and was about 90% functional within 7 hours. And I was in a time zone 9 hours away at the time! Wow! Seriously, I went from being almost unable to walk to walking 2 miles just 7 hours later!
(Follow up on that knee – previously diagnosed with lots of cartilage and meniscus problems (via MRI) – after the trip I revisited the genius physical therapist who concluded I had a folded torn meniscus flap. Getting the inflammation under control and movement got the flap back in the right position. I’ve done well ever since.)
Anyway – I heartedly support the direct primary care model! It’s awesome!
