Yes-we do phone consultations all the time. If you are interested in a phone consultation you can contact our office. The MRI reports and pictures of the x-ray are emailed to us, along with the accompanying blood work, if any. I review the results and call the patient. As I always say, I treat patients, not x-rays or MRI’s. There is nothing better than a physical examination but I can understand that patients who live internationally need to have questions answered before traveling for treatment.
If a patient is living in a different country or out of the state, or several hours away in upstate New York, you can contact my office and arrange for a phone consultation. After a phone consultation I can give them advice on whether they need to come and see me, or whether they can get service from a local orthopedic surgeon. For complicated procedures patients do prefer to travel to New York and get the procedure done from me.
For procedures that are fairly routine, they can be treated at the regional hospital by a local provider. There is a small, there is a fee for the phone consultation and this is frequently not covered by the insurance company. However, there are a few insurance companies that do understand the patient’s needs and cover this fee. If a CD or x-ray is physically mailed to the office, please make sure that you have a copy.
Because of logistics, it is not possible for us to mail it back to you. The best format to send it to our office is electronically. Patients who come to me internationally do send their x-rays to me and a copy of their primary care or medical doctors reports so that we can get a better evaluation of the patients medical and orthopedic issues to see if they’re a candidate to travel to New York for orthopedic procedures.
We understand this is daunting for patients who travel internationally and across states for orthopedic procedures. We are very cognizant of the price, and the need for travel to accomplish the patient’s goals. If travel is needed, there are certain hotels which we can recommend for a stay before and after the orthopedic procedure. For international patients we can give a flat fee, which includes the hospital stay, medications in the hospital.
It also includes the anesthesiologist and the medical doctor taking care of the patient. It does not include the travel to and from New York. It does not include the hotel stay. It also does not include post-operative physical therapy and does not include the medications after the surgery that are needed after the hospital stay. Most patients after hip and knee replacement surgery need some pain medications including narcotics, some anti-inflammatory medications and aspirin. The cost of these medications is very affordable.
If patients are interested in considering a phone consultation or considering travel to New York for orthopedic procedures, they can contact our office and we will get back with them as soon as possible. For international patients we are cognizant of different time zones, which we accommodate during the phone consultation. For patients from non-English speaking countries, we have found it difficult to find a translator, however we do our best to accommodate it.
The cost of a translator for non-English speaking patients is additional. For patients in China I found that written correspondence has been very satisfactory. There have also been patients who send us their consultation fee or surgical fee in advance, which is required by some consulates to obtain a visa. If a Visa is not obtained we have been very prompt in returning the fee to the patient if they’re unable to travel to the United States.