Dr. Jeff Markin
For The Spokesman-Review
Spokane seems to be working its way back to more routine days and more routine health care as the COVID pandemic fades from front-page news. Many people delayed care during the pandemic. Demand rebounded as people came back to their doctor’s office to catch up on routine health care needs such as cancer screenings, minor surgeries, wellness exams and immunizations.
Today, getting care doesn’t just mean making an appointment and driving to the doctor’s office. In fact, many of your health needs can be handled at home with something called “telehealth” – a convenient way to get care with just your mobile device or computer.
Get to know telehealth
With an increased demand for care, it is important to understand your options. There are a lot of different access points available to get the care you need aside from a direct face-to-face appointment with your primary care provider.
One of the most important things you can do to improve ease of access and communication between you and your health care team is to take advantage of technology or develop some degree of computer literacy or smart phone access if needed. These devices can allow you to access your medical record through a secure portal, re-order medications, review test results, and send messages to your health care team.
It’s important to understand that your primary care provider is not “going away.” You can have in-person appointments even if you are also using technology and virtual health. It’s still very important to schedule that annual wellness visit to connect and review your comprehensive health care needs.
Telehealth appoints help you skip trip
More providers are offering telehealth, which includes online chats with health care teams and phone or video appointments with your providers. For older adults, telehealth can mean not having to drive or get transportation to every appointment and being able to stay home when mobility is limited. Most of these services can be accessed using any smart phone or a tablet like an iPad in addition to a computer.
Suppose a patient suffered a minor fall at home and luckily, only injured her hip muscles. After an acute care visit to check and treat the minor injuries in an emergency room, for example, follow up might be an in-person visit with a primary provider, review of ER notes and X-ray reports in electronic records, and then another video or phone check-in with the provider.
It might include a referral for physical therapy. After an initial assessment with a physical therapist, she might be able to choose either in-person visits or to access physical therapy from home with telehealth visits with the therapist. She might also have online access to her exercise schedule and links to videos that show how to do the exercises.
Video and phone appointments can include everything from questions about mild illness like a flu, a regular check-in with a specialist like a pulmonologist or asking your primary provider questions about medications. You can even have a dermatologist look at a mole or spot via video or a photo sent by secure message and recommend if you need to come in for an in-person look. It can be faster and more convenient to start with telehealth, especially for older adults who may need to arrange transportation to come in.
Many mental health services now offer telehealth options, too. Some providers have online ordering and mail order or delivery of prescriptions as well. Get educated about what your providers have available.
For those with more limited technology access or know how, it’s often simple to use health care technology platforms once you get set up, so it can be worth asking a son, daughter, or friend to help you the first time and show you how. You can also ask your provider if they have any support or assistance for using technology like self-check tools available as part of the online scheduling process.
Electronic health records coordinate all your care
If you are part of a system that uses electronic health care records, which most do, clinicians have access to your medical data at their fingertips, including laboratory results, immunizations and screenings, and visits with specialty providers.
Your primary care nursing staff and medical assistants can make sure your vaccinations are up to date, that the appropriate labs are ordered and drawn ahead of time for an upcoming appointment, or needed cancer screenings are ordered, all without having to see your provider face-to-face. Records of services you get outside of your primary care office including emergency rooms and services like a colonoscopy or a bone density or breast cancer screening should be included your electronic record and your primary provider can access them all in one place.
If you’re in a health care system, records from labs, pharmacy and other providers may be transferred and accessible automatically to your health care team, and if not, you want to follow through and ask the outside provider to make sure the records get shared. This gives health care providers the full range of information to make decisions and can improve both the safety and quality of your care.
Apps and online platforms make care easier
Many health care systems have a secure website portal or smart phone app where you can get your own personal login to access care. For example, on our system you can see your health records and reminders, set up appointments, and refill medications. You can often send a secure, private message to your health care providers for nonurgent questions and expect to get a response back in about a day.
You’ll need to get set up with a login account and for people with less technology know how, it can be helpful to have someone show you around the tools.
What we all want ultimately is success for patients achieving their health goals, whatever that looks like for you. Using technology can help you get the best care in a timely and efficient manner to ensure you stay happy and healthy as the years go by.
