Close your eyes… Imagine you are seeing your doctor for your routine follow up appointment.  You are a little harried and rushed because you had to fight traffic to get to the office on time.  Then you had to wait 20 min to get checked in and another 15 min before you doctor sees you. You quickly tell the doctor you are fine (realizing you have to pick up your kids from school in 20 min and don’t want to have them waiting), forgetting to tell them about the palpitations you have experienced on the new blood pressure med they started you on. “Oh well, you think, maybe next visit” as you rush out the door.

Now rewind this “mental movie” back to the beginning.  This time instead of rushing into the doctor’s office, you are now sitting on the couch at home when the door rings.  It’s your doctor and their assistant with big smiles on their faces! You invite them in and make small talk before starting your follow up appointment.  You offer them something to drink after the assistant takes your vital signs in your favorite comfy chair. While she enters the day’s vital signs, and uploads notes and pictures of your blood pressure logs into your chart on their laptop, you notice that your blood pressure looks pretty similar to what you have been recording at home.  It is not as high as when you have it checked in the clinic.  You feel noticably more relaxed. You didn’t have to fight traffic. You didn’t have to wait, wondering if your physician forgot about you! You tell the doctor your concerns about early morning heart palpitations and your doc raises an eyebrow. Your doctor then retrieves their stethoscope from their bag and performs an exam, listening to your heart and lungs, checking your pulse and looking to see if you have any swelling in your ankles. Your physician agrees it could be a side effect of the blood pressure medication but asks for additional clarification from you on when the palpitations really started.  You double check your calendar and realize they started a few weeks before you began the new med. Your doc recommends getting some blood work to ensure your potassium levels are ok along with a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea. You recall that your younger sister was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea but is now sleeping better since being evaluated and starting treatment. You also report you haven’t felt rested in several months and agree to get the tests. You expect to receive a lab order, but your assistant lets you know they can draw your bloodwork right now at home! You are happy to get this done with your favorite medical assistant and consent to the blood draw.  Once complete, your doctor places the sleep study referral and reviews the plan of care with you. You plan to follow up with them in 1 month and within an hour, your visit is wrapped up. You wave goodbye and realize how much time you saved having your doctor come to see you rather than the other way around! Life is good!

Did you know BloomMed provides home visits to its members?  Yup. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Lynette and I grab our travel kit filled with everything we need to have a clinic on wheels and head out to a patient’s home to provide care.  We love to do it and the members who have tried home visits with us (they are not required of course) are amazed at how much can be accomplished from the comfort of their own home!

Home visits are not just for patients who cannot leave their home.  We see patients of all ages, occupations and socioeconomic levels in their home! For more information on home visits click here or give us a call.  If you are an established BloomMed member, log into the member portal today to schedule your next home visit and experience VIP service at its finest!