We now offer telehealth services
With the shelter-in-place order in California and in many other states, telehealth services are preferred to in-person appointments for many routine care visits.
What is the role of telemedicine in the current COVID-19 pandemic?
Telemedicine allows patients to receive medical care from the comfort and safety of their homes without the risk of exposure to others that comes with traveling to a doctor’s office. Due to the benefits of telemedicine in the current pandemic, Medicare has relaxed telemedicine requirements in order to ensure Medicare beneficiaries have adequate access to care without risking unnecessary exposure. What this means is essentially any Medicare patient may see any physician from their own home via telehealth, whether or not they have seen that physician in the past or not, and regardless of whether the condition they are seeking care for has anything to due with COVID-19. Other insurance companies are also expanding their telemedicine access.
Our Telemedicine Option
We use Medici to provide telemedicine services.
- You can download Medici on your smartphone (iPhone or Android). You can also access it via a web browser on your laptop or desktop that has a webcam.
- If you are on your phone, you will have to give the app access to the camera and sound so that the app can use them to make the call
- The day before your appointment, you will receive a reminder call to confirm your app registration.
Medicare Patients
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has expanded the use of telemedicine given the current pandemic. With the new CMS guidelines, we can provide telemedicine services to both established Medicare patients and to Medicare patients who have never seen us before. This is true regardless of the state of residence, though our priority is to provide care to those in our community and in California.
What kind of services can be handled via telemedicine?
With special training such as the kind Dr. Srivatsa has undertaken, physicians can use telemedicine to take care of a variety of issues such as:
- Monitoring and medication adjustment for chronic medical conditions such as:
- o Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Heart failure
- High cholesterol
- Medication monitoring and refill
- And others
What are the limitations of telemedicine?
Telemedicine cannot assist with treating acute, severe medical conditions. If you are experiencing a severe acute illness, please call 911 or go to the emergency room. Diagnosing complicated new medical conditions such as new falls, new chest pain, etc may be limited since the doctor cannot listen to your heart or lungs. If you have a question about whether your question can be addressed via telemedicine, please call our office.
How do I make a telemedicine appointment?
Please call our office at (559) 224-5003 or more information and to make an appointment