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Can in-person consultation be changed to virtual appointments?

Posted by allig @allig, Apr 15 12:57pm

I have my first Mayo clinic in-person trip booked for an initial consultation/assessment with several doctors/specialists over a three day period. I am having problems scheduling an appointment with the main specialist I need to see within that three day period. I have acute physical injuries and severe disabilities (posing travel as an issue) and financial barriers (i.e. being able to pay for hotel, meals, bring a support person with me, etc.) and I am wondering if my provincial Health Care is willing to pay for all these specialist appointments via zoom, can the whole trip be converted to a virtual trip? Especially when the only diagnostic test that is required is a blood test at the Mayo, which could easily be done in here in my home province? My home province Health Care is more than happy to pay the full consultation fees for the Mayo specialists but by doing it over zoom, is that possible at all? Can I convert my scheduled in-person appts to virtual appts? Would it help if my doctors/specialists here in my home province request virtual appointments?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Visiting Mayo Clinic Support Group.

Mentor
Laurie, Volunteer Mentor | @roch | Apr 15 1:17pm

@allig

Not being from Canada I can not answer your question directly about ZOOM and Canadian insurance coverage, hopefully someone on Connect has been through process and can answer question.

Another option is to contact Mayo Clinic International / Information Service in Canada. See following web page for phone number for patient advocate located in Canada,
https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/international/locations/canada

REPLY
Mentor
Helen, Volunteer Mentor | @naturegirl5 | Apr 15 2:05pm

@allig In which province in Canada do you reside?

I am going to tag our Mayo Clinic Connect Director, Colleen, @colleenyoung who may be able to answer this question for you. @roch also provided a good suggestion of contacting the Mayo Clinic International/Information Service in Canada.

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Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Apr 15 2:11pm

Hi @allig, welcome. Given that your provincially funded health plan is covering the costs of your visit to Mayo Clinic, I assume you are in need of expertise not currently available in your province. @grandpabob had a similar experience and was treated at Mayo Clinic as a Canadian citizen paid by the province before CAR-T cell therapy was available locally.

I'm so glad that you have this opportunity at Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic welcomes both new and existing patients for virtual and in-person care in adherence with federal and state executive orders and guidance. Not all appointments are suited to a virtual setting. If virtual care is an option for your medical needs then it will be made available for out-of-state patients IF the provider you are seeing is licensed in the state where you live. So in your case, the physician would have to be dually licensed in Canada and your province as well as in Minnesota.

@roch made a good suggestion. You can call the Canadian international appointment office to inquire if virtual appointments would work in your case. Or you can contact the department with which you have the appointment, either by phone or on the patient portal.

Do you have an account on Mayo Clinic's patient portal already set up?

REPLY
1 reply
allig | @allig | Apr 15 2:47pm
In reply to @colleenyoung "Hi @allig, welcome. Given that your provincially funded health plan is covering the costs of your..." + (show)
@colleenyoung

Hi @allig, welcome. Given that your provincially funded health plan is covering the costs of your visit to Mayo Clinic, I assume you are in need of expertise not currently available in your province. @grandpabob had a similar experience and was treated at Mayo Clinic as a Canadian citizen paid by the province before CAR-T cell therapy was available locally.

I'm so glad that you have this opportunity at Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic welcomes both new and existing patients for virtual and in-person care in adherence with federal and state executive orders and guidance. Not all appointments are suited to a virtual setting. If virtual care is an option for your medical needs then it will be made available for out-of-state patients IF the provider you are seeing is licensed in the state where you live. So in your case, the physician would have to be dually licensed in Canada and your province as well as in Minnesota.

@roch made a good suggestion. You can call the Canadian international appointment office to inquire if virtual appointments would work in your case. Or you can contact the department with which you have the appointment, either by phone or on the patient portal.

Do you have an account on Mayo Clinic's patient portal already set up?

Jump to this post

Hi there,
I tried to message you, Colleen, directly but I don't know how to do this on this connect mayo portal. I have asked the question to the international appointment admin person if I could have these consultation appointments done via zoom, but have not heard a response back. When I initially reached out to the intl.mcr at mayo.edu after receiving confirmation that i was approved to come to the Mayo, I was told that it was an in-person appointment and that I couldn't do virtual. However it sounded like standard messaging, because I hadn't even booked the appts with the specialists at that time. Since they didn't know with whom i would be seeing or the types of testing, the messaging was no virtual, you must come in person. Then I had to apply for funding through my province to get the Mayo clinic trip approved to be paid by my provincial Manitoba Health Care insurance. That was approved and then I finally moved forward with booking my trip and that's when the Mayo started to generate the appointments times, names of doctors and estimated bill amounts. Is there an actual Canadian Mayo number to call or is it still the international Mayo number to call and e-mailing the intl.mcr at mayo.edu. I am going to the Rochester location.

So you are saying that any doctor or specialist I am seeing in Rochester, Minnesota also has to carry a license to practice medicine not only in Canada, but specifically to Manitoba in order to have virtual appointments? If there is a Canadian Mayo consultant or advocate or guidance person to speak to about this, I would greatly appreciate to know the contact info. I'd also like to know how to do private messaging on this platform. I do have a Mayo clinic patient id portal login, but it does not allow me to message any of my doctors I am scheduled with or allow me to message these types of questions. The only direct message I can send is to the billing department and obviously they can't answer these questions.

My doctors, here at home, would rather have me doing the entire trip via zoom rather than in-person because they know how hard and medically risky it will be for me to travel, so they were hoping that the Mayo had a zoom option.

Any information, advice, contact information, etc., would be extremely helpful and appreciated. Thank you!

REPLY
1 reply
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Apr 15 3:02pm
In reply to @allig "Hi there, I tried to message you, Colleen, directly but I don't know how to do..." + (show)
@allig

Hi there,
I tried to message you, Colleen, directly but I don't know how to do this on this connect mayo portal. I have asked the question to the international appointment admin person if I could have these consultation appointments done via zoom, but have not heard a response back. When I initially reached out to the intl.mcr at mayo.edu after receiving confirmation that i was approved to come to the Mayo, I was told that it was an in-person appointment and that I couldn't do virtual. However it sounded like standard messaging, because I hadn't even booked the appts with the specialists at that time. Since they didn't know with whom i would be seeing or the types of testing, the messaging was no virtual, you must come in person. Then I had to apply for funding through my province to get the Mayo clinic trip approved to be paid by my provincial Manitoba Health Care insurance. That was approved and then I finally moved forward with booking my trip and that's when the Mayo started to generate the appointments times, names of doctors and estimated bill amounts. Is there an actual Canadian Mayo number to call or is it still the international Mayo number to call and e-mailing the intl.mcr at mayo.edu. I am going to the Rochester location.

So you are saying that any doctor or specialist I am seeing in Rochester, Minnesota also has to carry a license to practice medicine not only in Canada, but specifically to Manitoba in order to have virtual appointments? If there is a Canadian Mayo consultant or advocate or guidance person to speak to about this, I would greatly appreciate to know the contact info. I'd also like to know how to do private messaging on this platform. I do have a Mayo clinic patient id portal login, but it does not allow me to message any of my doctors I am scheduled with or allow me to message these types of questions. The only direct message I can send is to the billing department and obviously they can't answer these questions.

My doctors, here at home, would rather have me doing the entire trip via zoom rather than in-person because they know how hard and medically risky it will be for me to travel, so they were hoping that the Mayo had a zoom option.

Any information, advice, contact information, etc., would be extremely helpful and appreciated. Thank you!

Jump to this post

@allig, thank you for the additional information. Since you are a new member, you cannot initiate a private message yet. I will private message you.

In general terms for anyone else who may be interested in this information.

1. When receiving virtual care any where, the medical provider you consult with must be licensed in the state or province where you live.

2. Patient Online Services (https://onlineservices.mayoclinic.org/content/staticpatient/showpage/patientonline) is Mayo Clinic's patient portal where you can see medical records, contact your doctor, see reports and test results, as well as schedule appointments.
You're right that you cannot communicate with your Mayo doctor yet on the portal. You will be able to do this after you see them.

3. To speak with the patient advocate located in Canada, please call 807-346-2218.

It may be helpful to have your doctors at home in Manitoba contact Mayo Clinic on your behalf to discuss virtual options.

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