Selected Podcast
When to Use Virtual Primary Care as an Option Instead of Urgent Care
Dr. Michael Stabile discusses ailments that can be scheduled as a Virtual Primary Care visit instead of urgent care.
Featured Speaker:
Michael C. Stabile, MD
Dr. Michael Stabile is board certified in Family Medicine. In addition to leading Capital Health Medical Group's Virtual Primary Care Program, he is a practicing primary care physician at Capital Health Primary Care - Hamilton, located in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. He completed his family medicine residency at UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at CentraState Medical Center and received his medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten, NA. He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Alpha Omega Phi Honor and Service Society. Transcription:
When to Use Virtual Primary Care as an Option Instead of Urgent Care
Joey Wahler: It's a growing trend connecting patients with doctors and providers. So we're discussing telemedicine or virtual primary care. Our guest, Dr. Michael Stabile, medical Director of Virtual Primary Care for Capital Health Medical Group. This is the Health Headlines podcast series from Capital Health. Thanks for listening. I'm Joey Waller. Hi, Dr. Stabile, thanks for joining us.
Dr. Michael Stabile: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Joey Wahler: Excited to have you. So first, in addition to emergency rooms and urgent care facilities, virtual doctor visits are, as mentioned, becoming more common nowadays. So first, what's the basic difference between those three? When should you or would you go to one instead of the others?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So that's a great question and I think there is a lot of confusion about what is the proper time to go to, you know, one of these different facilities or when can you use telemedicine application. So emergency care or going to an emergency room, really that is for significant, maybe life-threatening medical issues or problems that you're having that really require a high level of care. So you can think about whether or not you would need to be in a hospital setting based on the symptoms or concerns that you're having. Which sometimes it can be confusing with symptoms that you have and you know how serious they are.
But emergency rooms are really designed for that higher level of care where you need to have urgent evaluation for a significant, potentially severe medical problem. That's a bit in contrast to an urgent care, which freestanding urgent care is a little bit different, where you would not go to an urgent care for very severe type of symptoms. Urgent cares don't have the same ability to quickly assess and manage severe medical problems. So that would be the lower acuity or the decrease in severity of medical issues that you would go to an urgent care for.
And an urgent care would be appropriate for like milder procedures if you have a laceration or something where you really needed a in-person physician to evaluate and manage your care. Then you have virtual medicine or telemedicine. The appropriate patients for virtual medicine is very similar to urgent care, where it's not those severe life-threatening problems. But maybe it's not something that needs an in-person examination or in-person testing such as a laceration that would need to. Stitched that you would need to obviously go to some kind of in-person facility.
So essentially virtual primary care or virtual practice is having the ability to evaluate acute issues that people have that they want evaluated in a timely manner but don't require either that higher level of care that you would see in an emergency room or in-person assessment by a physician.
Joey Wahler: And so having. Bat, what can typically be done remotely and what can't?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So as I was alluding to anything that really needs to have a doctor put hands on you like having stitches or some physical assessment that really couldn't be done just by communicating via telemedicine or a virtual conversation you know, that you would need to go to an in-person facility. But we say that most of what we gather in terms of someone's medical problem comes from the history. So having a patient describe to us their symptoms, how long they've been going on, what the progression was, how did they start.
All the information that we can gather just from a discussion can really help us to determine the cause of their symptoms, how significant their issue is and do they need to be in another setting? Because sometimes we are essentially acting as a triage. And if something seems to be a little bit more problematic than initially thought, then we may need to refer them to another setting. But almost anything that does not have a potential significant implication where you really need that urgent In-person assessment, we can handle via our virtual practice.
Joey Wahler: So, for instance, a common cold or virus or infection, perhaps maybe getting medication prescribed or refilled. How about those things?
Dr. Michael Stabile: so that's exactly correct. Those kind concerns and symptoms that you just mentioned are exactly the kind of things that we handle every day via our virtual practice. Obviously with covid now, that is one of the primary medical issues that we're, we're seeing. And we are happy to evaluate really anyone for symptoms of covid or if they've tested positive at home for Covid. And they want to come up with a plan or kind of stratify their risk of developing complications we're here to walk them through that and if needed, prescribe them the appropriate medications.
And that's, Similar to really any acute medical issue, the flu, a cold, a urinary tract infection, sore throat, you name it. Really we're able to handle and assess any of that and give the proper guidance. You know, after the visit is complete.
Joey Wahler: And so to pick up on that sometimes, am I right, a patient might just see someone virtually in order to ask a question or get some advice? So you might direct them elsewhere, but at least they know they're turning to the right place. Right?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That is correct. Sometimes patients have an issue or a question that they are looking for an answer right away. And, you know, maybe it's not something that they need to have an appointment with. Their primary doctor or it's not something that they want to wait an extended period of time to find an answer. But they're just looking to talk to a medical professional and have their opinion or guidance as to maybe what the best next step is. So, you know, certainly we are available to answer those kind of questions and we're happy to do that.
Joey Wahler: And just to be clear, when I say you can direct them elsewhere, whoever they're seeing can, by elsewhere, I mean someone else ideally within your group, so that you keep it in house and you know who you're referring them to?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That is a hundred percent correct. And we really see that as a huge benefit for our practice as compared to some of the other national telemedicine companies where we have this large network of physicians, primary care and specialist providers that we have access to and the ability to refer for really any reason. And one of the big benefits of seeing one of our providers for one of these virtual visits is if you do need some kind of follow up or if you do need a test done, if you need a Covid test or something similar to that, we can very easily coordinate that very quickly.
Generally same day or next day in one of our over 20 primary care offices or, you know, one of our many specialty offices. So that's a big benefit for our patients that utilize us, that we have that network that we can refer and get testing set up for very quickly and easily.
Joey Wahler: Gotcha. So walk us through, please, the process of using telemedicine. I presume this can be done on someone's laptop, tablet, or phone, whatever device they use, and it's even really doable and easy for those that aren't tech savvy, isn't it?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That that is true, and that was a big concern of ours when we initially were piloting this whether or not everyone would have the ability to utilize this or would would want to utilize this. But we found that really anyone, any age you know, really any degree of tech savviness is able to to easily complete a virtual visit because it really is simple. Once the, patient requests a visit and it's time for the provider to start that visit, they're sent a text message, which tells them that the provider is ready to start the visit.
It's just a link that the patient is able to click on, and then once they click on that link other than just giving permission to access the, Video and audio component of their device you're just automatically connected and you can see the provider right away. So it is a very simple process and we really haven't found much difficulty for anyone being able to start that process.
Joey Wahler: Now first you have to register. And so what information should people be prepared beforehand to have available? That way they not only identify themselves, but they identify what their purpose for having the visit is. A little bit of history, I would imagine, et cetera. So what information do we need?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That's a great question. And really you can essentially think of a virtual visit to be fairly identical to what you would expect in person going and seeing a doctor in their doctor's office or an urgent care. So we would want to gather all the Pertinent information. If you're already a patient of our practice, if you've seen one of our primary care providers or one of our specialty providers, a lot of the information that we would need is already in our system.
But if things have changed or if you are a new patient to our practice, we would need to verify your identity. We would need insurance information. And then all of those medical questions like you just mentioned, what's the reason that you're looking for a discussion with a provider? Do you have allergies? What is your medical history? Do you take medications? So very similar to the questions that would be asked if you were seeing someone in their freestanding office.
Joey Wahler: Okay. And then once it's time to see the doctor, what happens? Do people have any choice in who they see based on who's available? You mentioned that typically they're seen pretty much right away, which of course isn't always unfortunately how it works when offices are very busy in person. Right?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So that's correct. We try to see people as soon as possible. That depends on the volume. If, there's you know, a Covid outbreak, if it's flu season, it might take a little bit longer for a provider to be ready to, to see the patient. But generally it's a relatively quick process. The way that we have this practice set up is very different than the in-person practice. So, if you're going to see your primary care doctor or specialist, you have that ability to choose who you want to see, when you want to see them.
This is more like an emergency room or in urgent care where you're looking to have an issue evaluated right away. And because of that, there's not really the ability to choose the provider that you're going to see, and part of that is because we want you to be able to be evaluated as soon as possible. So really you are routed to the next available provider and that provider will see you as soon as possible.
Joey Wahler: The important thing there, aside from expediency, as you said, being that whoever that person is, they'll be prepared to deal with pretty much anything, at least as an initial contact, right?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That is correct. Yeah. We would not turn anyone away based on symptoms or concerns that anyone's having. And we would be able to manage most things that would be presented to us. And if not we have the ability to point you in the right direction. And we have the ability for the staff working with us to help coordinate that follow up for you.
Joey Wahler: And then finally, just to expand on something we touched on earlier, are all the providers someone might see virtually part of Capital Health and therefore if someone is a Capital Health patient already, do those providers, they're seeing virtually take the same insurance and do they have access to their medical records that are already in the system?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So that's correct. So e every provider that you would see via our virtual practice is part of our Capital Health Network. We all accept the same insurances and we accept most insurances that people have. So that's generally not an issue. And. If there is follow up that's needed, it is possible to follow up with that doctor who evaluated you at another time. You can follow up in their in-person office or we can guide you into follow up with one of our colleagues. And all of that information would be stored in the same medical records.
So any visit that you have via the virtual practice that would be able to be seen by. Primary doctor if they're within our network. And if you're having follow up for the same issue, that doctor would know exactly what happened during that prior visit, what medicines were prescribed, what the diagnosis was, and any recommendations that were given at that time.
Joey Wahler: Well folks, we trust you are now more familiar with Virtual Primary Care, Dr. Michael Stabile. Thanks so much again.
Dr. Michael Stabile: Thank you for having me.
Joey Wahler: Absolutely, and for more information or to register for one of these appointments, please do visit capitalvirtualcare.org. Again, that's capitalvirtualcare.org. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media, and thanks again for listening to the Health Headlines Podcast Series from Capital Health Medical Group, hoping your health is good health. I'm Joey.
When to Use Virtual Primary Care as an Option Instead of Urgent Care
Joey Wahler: It's a growing trend connecting patients with doctors and providers. So we're discussing telemedicine or virtual primary care. Our guest, Dr. Michael Stabile, medical Director of Virtual Primary Care for Capital Health Medical Group. This is the Health Headlines podcast series from Capital Health. Thanks for listening. I'm Joey Waller. Hi, Dr. Stabile, thanks for joining us.
Dr. Michael Stabile: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Joey Wahler: Excited to have you. So first, in addition to emergency rooms and urgent care facilities, virtual doctor visits are, as mentioned, becoming more common nowadays. So first, what's the basic difference between those three? When should you or would you go to one instead of the others?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So that's a great question and I think there is a lot of confusion about what is the proper time to go to, you know, one of these different facilities or when can you use telemedicine application. So emergency care or going to an emergency room, really that is for significant, maybe life-threatening medical issues or problems that you're having that really require a high level of care. So you can think about whether or not you would need to be in a hospital setting based on the symptoms or concerns that you're having. Which sometimes it can be confusing with symptoms that you have and you know how serious they are.
But emergency rooms are really designed for that higher level of care where you need to have urgent evaluation for a significant, potentially severe medical problem. That's a bit in contrast to an urgent care, which freestanding urgent care is a little bit different, where you would not go to an urgent care for very severe type of symptoms. Urgent cares don't have the same ability to quickly assess and manage severe medical problems. So that would be the lower acuity or the decrease in severity of medical issues that you would go to an urgent care for.
And an urgent care would be appropriate for like milder procedures if you have a laceration or something where you really needed a in-person physician to evaluate and manage your care. Then you have virtual medicine or telemedicine. The appropriate patients for virtual medicine is very similar to urgent care, where it's not those severe life-threatening problems. But maybe it's not something that needs an in-person examination or in-person testing such as a laceration that would need to. Stitched that you would need to obviously go to some kind of in-person facility.
So essentially virtual primary care or virtual practice is having the ability to evaluate acute issues that people have that they want evaluated in a timely manner but don't require either that higher level of care that you would see in an emergency room or in-person assessment by a physician.
Joey Wahler: And so having. Bat, what can typically be done remotely and what can't?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So as I was alluding to anything that really needs to have a doctor put hands on you like having stitches or some physical assessment that really couldn't be done just by communicating via telemedicine or a virtual conversation you know, that you would need to go to an in-person facility. But we say that most of what we gather in terms of someone's medical problem comes from the history. So having a patient describe to us their symptoms, how long they've been going on, what the progression was, how did they start.
All the information that we can gather just from a discussion can really help us to determine the cause of their symptoms, how significant their issue is and do they need to be in another setting? Because sometimes we are essentially acting as a triage. And if something seems to be a little bit more problematic than initially thought, then we may need to refer them to another setting. But almost anything that does not have a potential significant implication where you really need that urgent In-person assessment, we can handle via our virtual practice.
Joey Wahler: So, for instance, a common cold or virus or infection, perhaps maybe getting medication prescribed or refilled. How about those things?
Dr. Michael Stabile: so that's exactly correct. Those kind concerns and symptoms that you just mentioned are exactly the kind of things that we handle every day via our virtual practice. Obviously with covid now, that is one of the primary medical issues that we're, we're seeing. And we are happy to evaluate really anyone for symptoms of covid or if they've tested positive at home for Covid. And they want to come up with a plan or kind of stratify their risk of developing complications we're here to walk them through that and if needed, prescribe them the appropriate medications.
And that's, Similar to really any acute medical issue, the flu, a cold, a urinary tract infection, sore throat, you name it. Really we're able to handle and assess any of that and give the proper guidance. You know, after the visit is complete.
Joey Wahler: And so to pick up on that sometimes, am I right, a patient might just see someone virtually in order to ask a question or get some advice? So you might direct them elsewhere, but at least they know they're turning to the right place. Right?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That is correct. Sometimes patients have an issue or a question that they are looking for an answer right away. And, you know, maybe it's not something that they need to have an appointment with. Their primary doctor or it's not something that they want to wait an extended period of time to find an answer. But they're just looking to talk to a medical professional and have their opinion or guidance as to maybe what the best next step is. So, you know, certainly we are available to answer those kind of questions and we're happy to do that.
Joey Wahler: And just to be clear, when I say you can direct them elsewhere, whoever they're seeing can, by elsewhere, I mean someone else ideally within your group, so that you keep it in house and you know who you're referring them to?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That is a hundred percent correct. And we really see that as a huge benefit for our practice as compared to some of the other national telemedicine companies where we have this large network of physicians, primary care and specialist providers that we have access to and the ability to refer for really any reason. And one of the big benefits of seeing one of our providers for one of these virtual visits is if you do need some kind of follow up or if you do need a test done, if you need a Covid test or something similar to that, we can very easily coordinate that very quickly.
Generally same day or next day in one of our over 20 primary care offices or, you know, one of our many specialty offices. So that's a big benefit for our patients that utilize us, that we have that network that we can refer and get testing set up for very quickly and easily.
Joey Wahler: Gotcha. So walk us through, please, the process of using telemedicine. I presume this can be done on someone's laptop, tablet, or phone, whatever device they use, and it's even really doable and easy for those that aren't tech savvy, isn't it?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That that is true, and that was a big concern of ours when we initially were piloting this whether or not everyone would have the ability to utilize this or would would want to utilize this. But we found that really anyone, any age you know, really any degree of tech savviness is able to to easily complete a virtual visit because it really is simple. Once the, patient requests a visit and it's time for the provider to start that visit, they're sent a text message, which tells them that the provider is ready to start the visit.
It's just a link that the patient is able to click on, and then once they click on that link other than just giving permission to access the, Video and audio component of their device you're just automatically connected and you can see the provider right away. So it is a very simple process and we really haven't found much difficulty for anyone being able to start that process.
Joey Wahler: Now first you have to register. And so what information should people be prepared beforehand to have available? That way they not only identify themselves, but they identify what their purpose for having the visit is. A little bit of history, I would imagine, et cetera. So what information do we need?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That's a great question. And really you can essentially think of a virtual visit to be fairly identical to what you would expect in person going and seeing a doctor in their doctor's office or an urgent care. So we would want to gather all the Pertinent information. If you're already a patient of our practice, if you've seen one of our primary care providers or one of our specialty providers, a lot of the information that we would need is already in our system.
But if things have changed or if you are a new patient to our practice, we would need to verify your identity. We would need insurance information. And then all of those medical questions like you just mentioned, what's the reason that you're looking for a discussion with a provider? Do you have allergies? What is your medical history? Do you take medications? So very similar to the questions that would be asked if you were seeing someone in their freestanding office.
Joey Wahler: Okay. And then once it's time to see the doctor, what happens? Do people have any choice in who they see based on who's available? You mentioned that typically they're seen pretty much right away, which of course isn't always unfortunately how it works when offices are very busy in person. Right?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So that's correct. We try to see people as soon as possible. That depends on the volume. If, there's you know, a Covid outbreak, if it's flu season, it might take a little bit longer for a provider to be ready to, to see the patient. But generally it's a relatively quick process. The way that we have this practice set up is very different than the in-person practice. So, if you're going to see your primary care doctor or specialist, you have that ability to choose who you want to see, when you want to see them.
This is more like an emergency room or in urgent care where you're looking to have an issue evaluated right away. And because of that, there's not really the ability to choose the provider that you're going to see, and part of that is because we want you to be able to be evaluated as soon as possible. So really you are routed to the next available provider and that provider will see you as soon as possible.
Joey Wahler: The important thing there, aside from expediency, as you said, being that whoever that person is, they'll be prepared to deal with pretty much anything, at least as an initial contact, right?
Dr. Michael Stabile: That is correct. Yeah. We would not turn anyone away based on symptoms or concerns that anyone's having. And we would be able to manage most things that would be presented to us. And if not we have the ability to point you in the right direction. And we have the ability for the staff working with us to help coordinate that follow up for you.
Joey Wahler: And then finally, just to expand on something we touched on earlier, are all the providers someone might see virtually part of Capital Health and therefore if someone is a Capital Health patient already, do those providers, they're seeing virtually take the same insurance and do they have access to their medical records that are already in the system?
Dr. Michael Stabile: So that's correct. So e every provider that you would see via our virtual practice is part of our Capital Health Network. We all accept the same insurances and we accept most insurances that people have. So that's generally not an issue. And. If there is follow up that's needed, it is possible to follow up with that doctor who evaluated you at another time. You can follow up in their in-person office or we can guide you into follow up with one of our colleagues. And all of that information would be stored in the same medical records.
So any visit that you have via the virtual practice that would be able to be seen by. Primary doctor if they're within our network. And if you're having follow up for the same issue, that doctor would know exactly what happened during that prior visit, what medicines were prescribed, what the diagnosis was, and any recommendations that were given at that time.
Joey Wahler: Well folks, we trust you are now more familiar with Virtual Primary Care, Dr. Michael Stabile. Thanks so much again.
Dr. Michael Stabile: Thank you for having me.
Joey Wahler: Absolutely, and for more information or to register for one of these appointments, please do visit capitalvirtualcare.org. Again, that's capitalvirtualcare.org. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media, and thanks again for listening to the Health Headlines Podcast Series from Capital Health Medical Group, hoping your health is good health. I'm Joey.