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Walk In Health Care?

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ByronPA

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Three years ago, my long time family Doctor retired.
So, I found a new Doc, an asian guy who I couldn't understand, he seemed nice but I think it's important to have a Doctor you can communicate with. Then I went to another, a woman who looked about twenty and seemed to not want to be bothered, and no she wasn't hot.
Then I found a Doctor that seemed pretty good, personable and friendly. Got a notice last week that he is leaving the practice and moving out West. 

And now I have a sinus infection and need some antibiotics. And I'll be due in November for my annual check up/physical. I'm thinking of just forsaking the traditional Doctors office and going to one of these 7/24 walk in clinics, though I think they are now called something else, health centers or such.

Does anyone do that for routine visits? I have good insurance and don't have any significant health issues, just tired of looking for a regular Doctor... 

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Find a "practice "that has a pool of docs. We use Penn medicine out of Philly. We love our gp but the resources are there for specialists. 

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Ce n'est pas le mur derrière lequel il se passe quelque chose, mais bien la cuisinière dans laquelle on a brûlé quelque chose

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A "Regular" Doctor who you see on a regulator basis, hopefully will take care of you better.  He/she will get to know you, and hopefully have an interest in your well being long term.  A walk in clinic will write you an RX and ask for payment and not care if it works or not.  If it doesn't, walk in aging and get charged again.  Not my thing.

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10 minutes ago, ByronPA said:

Three years ago, my long time family Doctor retired.
So, I found a new Doc, an asian guy who I couldn't understand, he seemed nice but I think it's important to have a Doctor you can communicate with. Then I went to another, a woman who looked about twenty and seemed to not want to be bothered, and no she wasn't hot.
Then I found a Doctor that seemed pretty good, personable and friendly. Got a notice last week that he is leaving the practice and moving out West. 

And now I have a sinus infection and need some antibiotics. And I'll be due in November for my annual check up/physical. I'm thinking of just forsaking the traditional Doctors office and going to one of these 7/24 walk in clinics, though I think they are now called something else, health centers or such.

Does anyone do that for routine visits? I have good insurance and don't have any significant health issues, just tired of looking for a regular Doctor... 

They are fine. Urgen Care/Minute Clinic/etc. Typically a nurse practitioner will see you and you are in and out quickly with prescription in hand. I've gone for strep and it worked out just fine. 

If they can't properly treat you they will let you know. 

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I was in between Docs last yearish. Got super sick. 102 fever, chest on fire, felt awful. 

Went to a Minute Clinic at CVS. Diagnosed with pneumonia, got antibiotics, 20 dollar copay. 

Worked out fine. You can set up a visit online or walk in. 

Edited by Mokes

"The toothless, braindead, *********, geriatric mouthbreathers around here love their "safe space". It is the only place in the world where they feel like winners, the gracious thing to do, would be to let them enjoy their delusional reality."

-Numbnuts

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24 minutes ago, mike3dr said:

A "Regular" Doctor who you see on a regulator basis, hopefully will take care of you better.  He/she will get to know you, and hopefully have an interest in your well being long term.  A walk in clinic will write you an RX and ask for payment and not care if it works or not.  If it doesn't, walk in aging and get charged again.  Not my thing.

Yea, I always agreed with what you're saying. But it really seems that anymore the Doctors are all rushed and going in a hundred different directions at once. Within the last ten years I've noticed a huge difference in the amount/quality of time that my Doc spent with me. A sign of the times, perhaps.

 

And hell, if Mokes was happy, it has to be OK, Mokes is never happy .....

I'm going to check into the teledoc thing.

 

Thanks.  

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I would just do the walk in clinic thing.  I have a "regular" doctor... I go in maybe once a year and he couldn't pick me out of a line up.  If you have some condition that need continuing follow-up or monitoring, that would be a different story.

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I found i could never get an appointment with my docs, so one time I just asked for whoever they had and they gave me a Nurse Practitioner and she checked out my sinus infection, wrote the Rx and all was well.

Now I just ask for an NP and i get one of three in the Practice and they are all fine - they treated and did the after care for my MRSA earlier this year, just perfectly.

i think that unless you have a specialist or chronic condition, that any MD or NP will do just fine - they are all qualified right ? even at urgent care.

one thing though - your deductable or co-pay might be higher at urgent care than your local PCP. 

Disclaimer: the above may not represent the actual views of the writer, but may have been expressed sarcastically/ ironically with the sole intention of providing humour. That notwithstanding, the writer retains the right to be emotionally, psychologically or alcohol/substance impaired at the time of writing

(*member formerly known as 'guernseybass')

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Point being you want a good relationship with your doctor so that when something does come up they know you and your needs. Sooner or later we all need a good Dr. It's just easier and better for you if you have one you know and trust. Trust comes with repetition and knowing the patient and the patient developing a trust with the DR.  If it's only once or twice and the Dr tells you something you don't want to hear you won't have trust in their judgement and it could hurt your treatment. 

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Urgent care is okay, I have used them when my PCP was closed or I couldn't get an appointment in a timely manner.

My HMO Blue, while very good insurance, requires I have a PCP. Frankly I find PCPs pretty useless. Mostly they see you and then send you to a specialist for whatever ailment you have....so I pay a $25 co-pay for the idiot to refer me to a specialist, and then basically start again with the specialist and have to pay a $40 co-pay for each visit to them. Couldn't we have just bypassed the $25 and gone directly to the person that might actually DO something? :squid: 

And I am entitled to an annual "physical" with my PCP with no co-payment.......thing is, it is no longer a true physical, I think now they call them "Wellness Visits".... They order some blood work, take your weight and blood pressure, listen to your heart and lungs, ask a few questions, and send you on your way. Long gone are the days when a annual physical had those things plus a vision test, an EKG, a prostate exam, a reflex test, looking in your ears and down your throat, a stool culture (for blood in your intestines), and a number of other things. All those are now referred to the "specialist", (gotta keep that cash flowing.... :rolleyes: )

And goodness forbid that you bring up something new at your annual "Wellness Check"..........Donna just went thru this, she mentioned to her doctor that she was having some issues sleeping, and because that was a "new" issue that  they discussed, she was charged a co-pay for an office visit :mad:

I mean, at your "wellness visit" if you can't bring up any issue that may be new since your last wellness visit, what ****ing good are they?

And we wonder why health care is so screwed up in this country despite the wonderful things the doctors here can do.

My current PCP is just okay, but frankly, not really great and I could do without him....I am not the type to run to the doctor every time I sneeze........so unless I do something like cut my finger off.....and in that case, urgent care will do just fine, cause the PCP will likely be closed or booked anyway. :rolleyes: 

Edited by Steve in Mass

"You know the Bill of Rights is serving its purpose when it protects things you wish it didn't."

 

"You can no longer be oppressed if you are not afraid anymore - Unknown"

 

SOL Member #174

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1 hour ago, Kings over Queens said:

The 24/7 priority care type place can become your primary care is you dont have one.

They serve a valuable role in health care.

I did this for awhile, just because I was required to have one. While the other doctors and NPs at the Urgent Care Center were great, the main guy that ran the place and they made my PCP was a quack......he wanted to give me Viagra for congestive heart failure..... :squid:  

 

he got dropped after that pretty quickly.

"You know the Bill of Rights is serving its purpose when it protects things you wish it didn't."

 

"You can no longer be oppressed if you are not afraid anymore - Unknown"

 

SOL Member #174

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