The doctors, nurses and staff of the E365 practice welcome you! We feel lucky to work with such a great team and look forward to taking care of you. In order to help you, we wanted to outline answers to the most frequently-asked questions patients have about how to take care of their needs:
SIGNING UP
How do I become a patient? You can start by calling our patient registration facilitator, Ms. Denise Francois, 760-969-7969. She can explain the E365 model and how you can sign up with us.
Do you take my insurance? We accept Medicare and many PPO plans, including. Some patients also simply pay out of pocket. We do not currently accept HMO insurance plans or MediCal. The insurance plans we accept include:
- Access Plus Plan (The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians)
- Aetna PPO
- Beech Street*
- Blue Cross/Anthem PPO
- Blue Shield PPO
- CIGNA PPO
- Exclusive Care (County of Riverside)
- First Health*
- Interplan*
- Health Net PPO
- Medicare
- Medicare Advantage PPO Plans
- Medicare Private Fee for Service plans (PFFS)
- MultiPlan*
- PHCS (Private Health Care Systems)*
- United Healthcare
- TriCare (military)
Please note: Companies marked with an asterix (*) often provide their physician networks to other insurance companies. Look for their name or logo on your insurance card.
How is E365 different from a standard primary care office? In a few important ways. 1) Our model involves longer visits than are usually found in standard “appointment based” practices—hour-long intakes and half-hour long follow ups. 2) Our doctors follow a smaller number of patients than is usual, which reduces waiting times to see the doctor and allows them to create a “medical home” that can better focus on coordinating your care needs. 3) Closer communication with the doctor is a priority, not only by phone but also using RelayHealth, a sort of “Facebook for health care” that lets you email your doctor anytime. 4) This often allows patients and doctors to handle issues without an in-person visit, saving time and resources. 5) Finally, our model focuses on wellness and prevention; our aim is to keep you happy, healthy, and away from medical facilities as much as possible.
How are you able to do that? We charge an annual fee to support the increased service of our model. The cost is $595 for individuals 55 and older, $395 for adults under age 55, and children of enrolled adults are free. Couples can sign up together for a reduced fee.
How is E365 different from a concierge practice? Concierge practices usually involve a single physician, who is often available by personal cell phone and can accommodate intensive needs, such as frequent house calls or even traveling with a patient. Membership in such practices usually starts at $1800 per year and upward. Concierge practices have about 1/3 as many patients in them as the E365 model, which has about 1/3 the number in a standard, appointment-based practice.
APPOINTMENTS
Okay, I signed up and am a patient. How do I get a first appointment? You simply call our front desk at 760-969-7770 and speak to our registrars, Ms. Diana Baumann and Mr. Robert Isava. One of them can get you in.
What if I’m really sick? Can I get in the same day? In most cases, we can get you in right away. In some cases, if your doctor’s schedule is busy, you may be offered an immediate appointment with one of their co-workers. You may decide you prefer to wait to see your personal primary, but we want you to have the option for immediate access even in cases where your own primary is tied up. The physicians at E365 are a team and cover for one another for hospital duties and answering urgent phone calls, and we feel comfortable supporting your care as a team in this way.
In certain cases, where you may need urgent-care level treatment, the care coordinator may set you up with the urgent care team across the hallway, or direct you to the emergency room.
What if I am admitted to the hospital? If you are admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center
THE FIRST VISIT
What needs to be done before my first visit? The team will need to 1) confirm your insurance information, 2) get you signed up with the appropriate E365 membership plan, and 3) send you a simple health questionnaire. This last item will help you organize your health history for your first visit. Ideally, we would like to have the questionnaire sent in about a week before your visit, so that we can enter your health information into our system.
LATER VISITS
When you need to follow up with the doctor, you have a few options. You can 1) schedule an in-person visit, 2) schedule a phone visit, 3) send a message by RelayHealth. In some cases, you can get what you need by scheduling a visit with one of the nurses, such as getting a vaccination. Please see the page on “Visit Menu” for more on scheduling visits.
PRESCRIPTIONS
How do I get a prescription? If you think you need a new medication, you should see the doctor who can write or call in an order for your pharmacy.
If you already have pre-existing prescriptions that you take on a daily basis, you simply let your pharmacy know you have a new primary care office that will be handling your prescription orders, and give them our contact information. Normally the pharmacy will let us know as your prescriptions run out, and we can renew your orders. There is normally no need to “transfer” all the orders to a new prescriber.
What about mail-order pharmacies? Usually mail-order pharmacies send the patient an order form when it’s time to get the medicines re-newed. Please bring the form in during a visit and we can fill it out and get the order faxed off to the pharmacy.
What about triplicates? “Triplicates,” meaning medicines that require a security prescription, include narcotics like morphine, oxycodone, Vicodin, Percocet, or Duragesic patches. They must be hand-delivered to your pharmacy each month in order to be filled. We cannot call them in. For patients who use such medicines on a regular basis, you can call the office 3 days before you need the triplicate and we will have it ready for your pickup.
What if I need a prescription called in right away? Often you can direct urgent requests to our nurses, who are our “patient care coordinators.”
Patients of Drs. Bornfleth and Loftus work with nurses Joseph Munoz and Christine Ticman.
Patients of Dr. Heidarian work with Wendy Gonzalez.
In some cases the nurse may need to go over the order with the doctor before completing it.
MEDICAL RECORDS
How do I get copies of my records? Ms. Danielle Dupont handles most of our medical records matters; you can reach her at 760-969-7969. She can assist with obtaining your signed consent to obtain records from your health care providers, and in getting copies of your records from E365 and Eisenhower back to the rest of your care team as needed.
RELAY HEALTH
What is RelayHealth? RelayHealth is like a fancy email account, which allows you to send email messages to your doctor confidentially. You can also receive your test results electronically. Using RelayHealth is safer than using regular email. According to HIPAA, a law that protects patient privacy, regular email should not be used to communicate medical information. RelayHealth has extra security features to protect your privacy.
How do I use RelayHealth? You can sign up at http://www.relayhealth.com/. You only need a working personal email account. Ms. Denise Francois, our registration facilitator, can give you some instruction on the use of RelayHealth. If you need more help with basic computer skills, the Center for Health Living on the main campus in Rancho Mirage offers a class for this. You may reach them at 760-837-8701.
How do I use RelayHealth? You can sign up at http://www.relayhealth.com/. You only need a working personal email account. Ms. Denise Francois, our registration facilitator, can give you some instruction on the use of RelayHealth. If you need more help with basic computer skills, the Center for Health Living on the main campus in Rancho Mirage offers a class for this. You may reach them at 760-837-8701.
What do you want me to know about using RelayHealth? The most important thing to know about RelayHealth messages is that it may take 12-24 hours for the doctor to see and reply to the messages, although often it’s much less than that. If you have something that needs a response on the same day, please phone us at 760-969-7770.
At the present time, E365 uses RelayHealth for back-and-forth emailing of messages between doctor and patient, as well as sending your lab and X-ray results from Eisenhower to your account. We do not currently use the “schedule a visit” function with our practices, but your RelayHealth account won’t tell you this. Also, the health questionnaire you can fill out on RelayHealth does not feed into our computers.
What about getting lab or X-ray results? Normally the doctor will be alerted when you have results ready, and will have time to add any comments to your results before sending them to you on RealyHealth. This may take up to 3 days.
Note: Eisenhower Medical Center
OTHER QUESTIONS
If you have any other concerns or questions, start with our front desk team and they will connect you with the right person to help you. Our Chief Administrative Officer is Mr. Carl Enzor. He and his assistant Ms. Barbara Titolo will be glad to ensure your fullest satisfaction with your care. You may reach them at 760-835-7560.
