New way to communicate with us online coming soon!
May 28, 2009 by Kenneth Carlson, MD
We are in the final stages of readying a new way to communicate with us securely through the internet. We are partnering with Medfusion to offer a new internet portal. This will replace our current My Health Online service.
Big advantages are you can register online for a new account, no longer needing to visit our office to sign up. Password resets can also be done right on the site. New patient registration and other forms will be available.
Secure messaging to request an appointment, request prescription refill, or to ask us a question will also be available. In addition you will be able to pay your bill online or ask a question of our billing staff securely online.
If you have previously registered with our My Health Online you will get an email when it is ready with instructions on how to sign up. Keep checking back with more updates. We hope to “go live” Summer 2009.
Medication dispensing beginning this week
May 17, 2009 by Kenneth Carlson, MD
We are proud to announce the start of a new program at our office. Beginning this week we will have some common medications available in our office saving you a trip to the pharmacy. Our selection begins with 16 of the most common prescriptions including antibiotics and asthma medications. These medications come in pre-filled, sealed bottles and use barcode scanning to reduce errors. Our goal of this program is to offer you the convenience and shorten the time between us writing the prescription and the patient getting their medication.
We are able to bill most commercial insurance plans as well as take cash. We are not yet set up to dispense medications for patients on the Oregon Health Plan. We hope to change this in the future. Our system processes claims using the same system as pharmacies so you will know at that time what portion of the medication cost you are responsible for. For us to bill insurance you must have your prescription card with you. Also we cannot bill later for medication costs.
We will continue to send prescriptions to pharmacy of your choice. Your participation in this program is completely your choice! Feel free to use the comment section on this post for any questions or ask us about it next time you are in the office.
H1N1 Influenza Update
May 5, 2009 by Kenneth Carlson, MD
We are now over one week into tracking newly emerging H1N1 influenza virus. What have we learned so far?
Infections are spreading around the world but not as quickly as many predicted. We do now have confirmed cases in Oregon and our clinic has seen at least two. The contagiousness seems to be similar to typical respiratory influenza seen in winter months.
Severity of the disease was the big unknown when this was emerging. So far we are fortunate that it does not seem to be more severe than typical respiratory winter flu. Infections reported across the country are for the most part not requiring hospitalization and only one death has been reported from the virus in the United States.
At this time Oregon State Public Health is recommending decreasing the amount of testing since the virus has now been confirmed in many counties in Oregon. Testing will continue for children hospitalized or children at high risk of complications from influenza (very young and children with chronic medical conditions).
Primary prevention is still hand washing and avoiding crowds, especially if sick. Treatment is supportive, with rest, fluids, ibuprofen being the most important.
Our office will continue to monitor this emerging infection closely.
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