Disclaimer: Compensation was provided by Amwell via Momtrends. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Amwell or Momtrends.
Doesn’t it seem like it’s always a weekend, or you are about to go out of town when your child has a new suspicious rash, a low-grade fever, or other mysterious symptoms? For me, it ALWAYS seems to be the case! It’s not convenient for these things to pop-up outside of your primary care doctor’s normal business hours, and ain’t nobody got time for the urgent care clinic for small medical questions.
Thankfully, we live in a day and age where technology comes to the rescue! No, I’m not talking about consulting Dr. Google (we all know the fear and uncertainty Googling your symptoms brings). I’m talking about telehealth – the new-fangled ability we have to meet with a live doctor on video from our laptop or mobile device via the internet.
Today, I am sharing my recent experience with Amwell, the largest telehealth network in the country. If you want to save some time AND money and try Amwell for yourself, Fab Everyday readers get 50% off a $69 urgent care visit with code: Amwell50! Click here to learn more and begin your discounted doctor’s visit.
With the holidays coming up, we are constantly on-the-go shopping and making preparations, and my oldest is my buddy for all of it. Weekends are our time to get it all done. Unfortunately, he’d had a cough for a few days, and then when he woke up on Saturday with it sounding worse, he and I were both worried that he was coming down with something. Since it was a weekend and our pediatrician was out of the office, Amwell came to our rescue.
The process to use Amwell is quick and easy to understand, which we knew from using it in the past, and within minutes you are connected with a live, board-certified and licensed doctor on demand.
To start, you simply visit the Amwell website and answer a few questions about the reason for your visit. You can even upload photos for the doctor to review (perhaps that rash that doesn’t seem quite right).
In case the doctor considers your condition a medical emergency, you need to enter some contact information, including your current location.
If the visit is for your child, you add a little information about them and their medical history. If you don’t have it all handy, that’s OK too.
To get connected with a provider for your first visit, you will need to download a telehealth video launcher. This is a pretty quick process.
Now, you’re ready to connect with a doctor. Amwell contacts the appropriate physician (you can also choose your own if they are part of the network and online). Alternatively, you can also look online to find a primary care clinic. While you wait, you can watch a brief video on how it all works and what to expect next. Our wait time was predicted at 10 minutes or less, but our assigned doctor responded much sooner. We also had the option to receive a text message when the doctor was ready, but since it connected so quickly, that wasn’t necessary for us.
The experience was quick and easy, and gave us the peace of mind we hoped to get as we kicked off our busy weekend. Thankfully, the symptoms were just a result of seasonal allergies (the pollen is bad in Central Texas right now!), but we thought it was better to be safe than sorry. We wouldn’t want to pass any contagion to the rest of our family members, or ignore a potential health issue until the next business day.
What was possibly the coolest thing about the experience was that it was done via video conference, so you really are face-to-face with a friendly physician in just minutes. They can see and hear you to examine you, and use attached photos to have a closer look.
This type of service is a game-changer for busy families like mine. Have you tried telehealth yet? Are you interested in giving it a try? Then click here to start your discounted doctor visit and use code Amwell50 for 50% off a $69 urgent care visit with Amwell!
Now we are back at our holiday preparations without skipping a beat!
PolishGalore says
Found this through Google. I found out tonight that my insurance covers AmWell at 100% with no deductible, so I’m about to start using it for all this stuff. We’ve been to urgent care nearly 8 times this year between everyone in the family and at $20 each, it’s not TERRIBLE but when it could be free? And on demand? Done. Here’s hoping!