Premier Medical Updates

Feb 24, 2021

Where to Report an Adverse Reaction to the COVID Vaccine

There is a website called VSafe where patients can register to report any adverse effects after vaccination. That site is at... https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/vsafe.html

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Feb 24, 2021

New information about the coronavirus vaccine!

The new vaccine sign-up is vaccinate.virginia.gov.

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Jan 22, 2021

COVID-19: When Can You Get the Vaccine? (new, revised link)

That's the number one question coming into our office now. The new portal where you can register for the vaccine is at www.vbgov.com/vaccinatevb. If you have trouble there, go to https://www.norfolk.gov/covid19vaccine. Read more about it here...

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Nov 21, 2020

Medical Resources

For generic medical information, this page contains multiple references and medical resources that may be helpful to you.

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May 21, 2020

Senior Care Resource

Caring.com is a leading senior care resource for family caregivers seeking information and support as they care for aging parents, spouses, and other loved ones. We have been featured by AARP, The Administration for Community Living, The National Legal Resource Center, and Forbes, as well as referenced by many governmental agencies and organizations across the Internet.

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Mar 05, 2020

Coronavirus update from Virginia Dept. of Health

Virginia news on Coronavirus...

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Mar 03, 2020

News on Coronavirus

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Here is the latest update from the CDC (Center for Disease Control).

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Dec 29, 2019

Happy Client

Dr. Parks is my mother’s physician and has been for many years. Our experience with her and her associates has been nothing but exceptional 100%. Dr.

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Dec 06, 2019

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Nov 03, 2019

New Website Design

In case you haven't noticed, we have redesigned the VBPM website to make it more modern in appearance and more user friendly with navigation links both at the top of the page and on the left side. Also the newest information is more readily seen and available in the right column. We hope you enjoy perusing the new site. Let us know what you think. Of course the content, purpose and philosophy of the office hasn't changed. We're still highly focused on patient-centered care, continuity, communication, compassion, professionalism and overall on providing the absolute best medical care that we can for all of our wonderful patients. We continue to deeply appreciate the honor, privilege and responsibility we all feel in caring for you.

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Sep 21, 2019

New Answering Service!

We now have a new answering service which is dedicated to serving the health care community. This is different than the usual generic (non-medical) answering services in that they are more understanding of the needs of our patients. The number to call is the same as our office number - 757-416-6750 - which connects to the answering service after hours and on weekends and Holidays. You may get a brief recorded message first, but you should be able to talk with a live trained operator within 30 seconds, avoiding the long wait times often associated with other answering services.

As your concierge medicine office, we are always looking for ways to improve the quality of your health care. Please let us know how this new service is working for you.

Thank you, as always, for allowing us the honor of providing for your health care in the best way possible.

Aug 28, 2019

Flu Vaccine Recommendations for 2019-2020

These are the vaccines that would be most appropriate for patients in our age groups. HD (High Dose) is recommended for most seniors.

IIV3—High Dose—Egg based† (HD-IIV3) Fluzone High-Dose (Sanofi Pasteur) Age ≥65 yrs Dose: 60 μg/0.5 mL

IIV3—Standard Dose—Egg based† with MF59 adjuvant (aIIV3) Fluad (Seqirus) Age ≥65 yrs Dose: 15 μg/0.5 mL

RIV4—Recombinant HA Flublok Quadrivalent (Sanofi Pasteur) Age ≥18 yrs Dose: 45 μg/0.5 mL

The full article on CDC recommendations can be found at the following link...

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Aug 05, 2019

HSA Funds Can Now be Used for Concierge Medicine!

BIG NEWS for our patients who have HSA accounts!! A little known executive order signed in June of 2019 supports Direct Primary Care practices like ours by allowing patients with HSA accounts to pay the doctors' fees from those accounts, which in effect allows those expenses to be tax deductible! As always in these matters, check with your accountant for details.

Excerpt from Executive Order signed on June 24,2019 (Section 6 b):

"b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury, to the extent consistent with law, shall propose regulations to treat expenses related to certain types of arrangements, potentially including direct primary care arrangements and healthcare sharing ministries, as eligible medical expenses under section 213(d) of title 26, United States Code."

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Mar 22, 2019

Medical Information for Patients

Check out our new upgraded Medical Information site for our patients...

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Dec 06, 2018

Absolutely Unbelievable!!

I thought the wonderful Doctors were all gone. Alas , All is not lost! They Care!! They Listen! They are your trusted advocates and advisors! I

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Nov 09, 2015

Parkinson's Wellness Recovery Program

Gloria Siegel, trained PWR instructor, hosts exercise classes for Parkinson's patients once a week on Fridays at 1:00 PM at the following address:

Good Shepherd Lutheral Church
1489 Laskin Rd., Va Beach, VA

Patients give Gloria's classes excellent reviews.

Call our office at 416-6750 to learn how to contact her or go to her facebook page.

Oct 02, 2015

Our New Health Library

How often have you left the doctor's office, having been told of a new diagnosis, and not really remembering much of what he or she said? Or perhaps you just want more information about it.

How often has a family member asked you, "What did the doctor say?", or "What's wrong with you and how can it be treated?" Well, now you can access our Health Library located on this website and get information that's easy to understand. You can print pages to keep in your personal health record, or you can easily email the information to family members. Just enter your diagnosis or medical condition in the search box and get the information you need.

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Mar 09, 2013

Health Insurance Information

Looking for some reliable, updated, easy-to-understand information about health insurance in the U.S., and how it is affected by Obamacare? Check out this site...

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Jul 07, 2012

Healthcare Reform

How much do you really know about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act?

First, take the health reform quiz at the Kaiser Family Foundation site.

Then check out the July 7, 2012 blog entry on the Art of Patient Care website for links to some factual information about it.

Art of Patient Care Blog

Or, go to the following websites...

American College of Physicians

www.healthcare.gov

www.insuremekevin.com

Jul 02, 2012

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a common infection of the liver affecting about 150 million people worldwide. After the initial infection, about 85% of the time the virus remains in the liver causing a slow inflammatory process that does not cause any symptoms, but over many years can lead to the development of cirrhosis and eventually liver failure.

The infection can be spread by transfusion (especially for those transfused before 1992), IV drug use, tattooing, body piercing, healthcare exposure, and probably by sexual activity.

There are treatments available for Hepatitis C, which can result in a 50-80% cure rate, but you have to know you have it first.

About 50% of people have it and don't know it.

Prior recommendations for testing only included certain high risk groups of people. However, a recent study suggests that screening for Hepatitis C should be broadened to include all adults between the ages of 20 and 69. If this is done, liver-related mortality will decrease by 1% for every 15% of the population tested.

If you would like to be tested or have any questions about it, please let us know or talk to your physician about it.

Jul 02, 2012

Email Communication with Twistle: Fast, Easy and Secure

We are always looking for better ways to communicate with our patients and colleagues, so when a new, free, secure internet-based messaging system became available, we had to investigate.

Twistle is a new, password-protected, email-based messaging system that was created specifically for doctors' offices that allows patients and doctors to type messages to each other and send documents and even pictures back and forth. This is similar to text messaging or instant messaging, only much more secure. It allows direct communication to your personal physician or to the office staff for things like setting up appointments, refilling prescriptions, asking billing questions or even non-emergent medical questions. Your doctor will be able to easily send you lab or X-ray results and you will be able to respond or ask questions.

Of course, you still have all the other options of communicating with us as before - including calling the office staff, or calling your physician directly, or even using regular email although Twistle could easily take the place of the latter option much more securely than before.

You have to be invited to sign up, so if this is something you would like to try, please let the office staff or your doctor know so that we can send you an email invitation.

You can see how easy it is to get set up with this program on the following instruction page... Twistle Instructions

Jan 28, 2012

Pharmacy News

Many of our patients who use Express Scripts for their long-term medications have been dismayed by the recent loss of association between Express Scripts and Walgreens.

What we are suggesting for those patients is that they should consider signing up with CVS CareMark. They should go ahead and establish an account now. Then when they need a medication renewed that previously was handled by Express Scripts, let us know, so that we can call it into CVS Caremark. This seems to be the easiest and smoothest way of making the transfer.

Apr 02, 2011

April Newsletter!

The new April Newsletter is now available for download. Go to the following link below this text to download your copy. All the past issues are there for you to see as well.

Also don't forget to sign up to get all future VBPM newsletters delivered directly to your email box!

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Nov 29, 2010

Newsletter!

Don't forget to download your newest copy of the VBPM Connection! The December issue is now available. You can also download all the past issues from this page...

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Oct 10, 2010

October Newsletter!

The October newsletter is now available for download. It's full of news and tips to help you stay healthy!

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