Legal
Telehealth Notice
How care works when your physician isn’t in the room, what it does well, and where it falls short.
The short version
- Your visits happen by phone and video.
- You need to be physically in North Carolina at the time of every visit.
- Telehealth can’t do everything. When you need to be seen in person, we’ll tell you, and we’ll tell you where to go.
- Portal doesn’t provide emergency care. If it’s an emergency, call 911.
- Before your first visit with the physician, you’ll be asked to review and sign a formal telehealth consent.
How visits work
Your first contact is a phone call with a care coordinator, who talks through how you feel and what comes next. If lab work is warranted, we’ll tell you what it costs before anything is ordered. You then meet the physician by video to go through your results, and you leave with a written plan. Follow-up visits work the same way.
Where you need to be
Our physician is licensed in North Carolina. You need to be physically located in North Carolina at the time of each visit, wherever you normally live. We’ll confirm your location at your visits. If you’ll be out of state, we’ll need to reschedule.
You can check our physician’s license with the North Carolina Medical Board.
What telehealth can and can’t do
A lot of this work fits telehealth well: talking through symptoms and history, reviewing labs, and building and adjusting a plan. Some of it doesn’t. Your physician can’t examine you in person, and relies on your history, your lab results and what can be seen on video.
If you need an in-person exam, a test we can’t arrange remotely, or a different kind of care, your physician will tell you and point you to where you can get it. Your physician may also decide telehealth isn’t appropriate for a particular concern.
Prescriptions
Medication is prescribed only when your physician decides it’s clinically appropriate after an evaluation. Some medications, including controlled substances such as testosterone, have additional federal and state rules for prescribing through telehealth. If those rules require anything more, such as an in-person visit, we’ll tell you before anything is prescribed.
Privacy and technology
Take your visits somewhere private, where you can speak freely. Technology sometimes fails. If a call drops, or the connection is too poor for your physician to evaluate you properly, we’ll reconnect or reschedule. How we handle your information is described in our Privacy Policy.
Your choices
Telehealth is currently the only way Portal provides care. You can stop at any time. If you’d rather be seen in person, we’ll tell you where to go.
Emergencies
Portal doesn’t provide emergency care, and telehealth isn’t suitable for urgent problems. If you’re having a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Questions
Email info@joinportalwellness.com.