Telemedicine
Dr. Hwang has offered telemedicine (via video or telephone) since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to both minimize risk of spreading COVID-19 and improve access to medical care.
For a scheduled televisit appointment (excluding physical exams), fee will be 10% less than equivalent in-person office visit.
In some cases (e.g. due to COVID positivity or exposure), you might request a televisit in lieu of in-person physical exam. In this rare situation, Dr. Hwang will perform the history portion of the physical exam at the time of the televisit and charge the full PE price. Dr. Hwang will then schedule you to come in at a later date for the hands-on examination, immunizations, phlebotomy, +/- EKG, and will only charge for the ancillary services at the second appointment.
For unscheduled calls when you have a clinical concern, Dr. Hwang will typically not charge for telemed if you have been seen for that issue in the past month. Otherwise, Dr. Hwang will charge based on level of complexity of decision making as well as time, if a charge is deemed appropriate.
Electronic/portal correspondence for clinical concerns outside the one month window after an office or televisit will be charged similarly to telemedicine if a charge is deemed appropriate.
COVID-19 TESTING
- True Physician Care offers 2 types of in-office testing: Rapid antigen testing and a combined, molecular test for COVID-19/Influenza A/Influenza B.
- PCR testing for COVID-19 is only available as part of a comprehensive respiratory panel (which includes Influenza, RSV, and other respiratory pathogens). Turn-around time for results is typically 1-2 business days.
If you are symptomatic and being treated via telemedicine or are requesting to self-swab due to COVID exposure, you may do a nasal self-swab in your car or at home, and we will send it to the lab for testing.
If you are asymptomatic with no known exposure and need a PCR test for any reason, you also have the option to schedule a nurse visit to be swabbed in our office.
If you need a letter documenting a negative test result, the test (PCR or rapid antigen) must be performed in our office rather than a self-swab.
