Consent to Telehealth
Contents
1. What you are agreeing to
This is the informed consent to telehealth for Bidwell Health LLC. You are asked to agree to it before a clinician reviews your visit, and you agree to it again each time you start a new visit. It is a separate document from our Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy, and our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, and it is incorporated into the Terms of Service by reference. Please read it before you agree to it, because it describes real limits on what online care can do for you.
Telehealth means health care delivered by electronic communication between you and a clinician who is not in the same place as you. In our case it also means asynchronous care, which is explained in the next section and which has limits that a video or in person visit does not have.
2. How our visits work
Bidwell Health provides asynchronous telehealth, sometimes called store and forward. You complete an online visit describing your symptoms and your health history, and you may upload photographs where the condition calls for one. A clinician licensed in the state where you are located reviews what you submitted, makes a clinical decision, and messages you through your patient portal. There is no video call, no phone call, and no live appointment. You and the clinician are not online at the same time, and the clinician forms an impression from what you have written and submitted rather than from examining you.
If a clinician prescribes, the prescription is sent to the pharmacy you selected. You then obtain the medication from that pharmacy in the ordinary way. Bidwell Health does not dispense, compound, or sell medication.
The fee you pay purchases the clinical assessment. It does not purchase a prescription. A clinician prescribes only when it is clinically appropriate to do so.
3. The benefits of care this way
Care delivered this way can be faster, less expensive, and more private than an in person visit. You can complete a visit at a time that suits you rather than during office hours, you do not need to travel or take time off, and you do not need an appointment. For a condition that is well suited to it, an asynchronous visit can resolve the problem in a single exchange. No benefit is guaranteed, and as with any medical care, your condition may not improve and may get worse.
4. The limits and risks of care this way
You should understand the following before you agree. The information you submit may not be enough for a clinician to make a decision, in which case the clinician will ask you for more or will tell you that you need to be seen in person. A clinician cannot examine you, cannot take your vital signs, cannot listen to your chest, and cannot perform or order laboratory tests or imaging through this service. That means a condition can be missed, or can be mistaken for another condition that looks similar in writing, and it means a clinician may not be able to tell that you need urgent care.
Some conditions look alike in a written description and can only be distinguished by examination or testing. Vaginal symptoms are a common example, where bacterial vaginosis, a yeast infection, a urinary tract infection, and a sexually transmitted infection can produce overlapping complaints. A treatment chosen from your description may therefore be the wrong treatment, and if your symptoms do not improve you should tell us or seek in person care rather than waiting.
A technical failure, an interruption in service, a problem at the pharmacy, or an email that does not arrive can delay your care. Your treatment options may be limited by the law of the state you are in, and by our decision not to prescribe certain categories of medication at all. Electronic communication carries a risk that information is intercepted or reaches the wrong person, which we reduce by keeping clinical detail out of email and in the patient portal, and which we describe more fully in our Privacy Policy.
5. What we do not treat
This service is not for emergencies. If you think you may be having a medical emergency, including chest pain, difficulty breathing, a severe allergic reaction, heavy bleeding, a high fever with confusion, symptoms of a stroke, or thoughts of harming yourself, stop and call 911 or go to an emergency department. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Do not wait for a response from us, because we do not provide urgent or emergency care and no clinician is monitoring for messages at all hours.
Bidwell Health does not prescribe controlled substances of any schedule under any circumstances. This includes opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants, sedative hypnotics, tramadol, and any medication that is scheduled federally or by your state. We do not provide primary care, ongoing care management, routine care coordination with your other providers, after hours coverage, or on call services. That is a limit on ongoing care, not on your records: you may ask us at any time for a copy of your visit record, and we will send it to your primary care provider or another clinician when you ask us to, when the law of your state requires us to offer or make that disclosure, or when it is needed for a referral or to transfer your care. If your case needs in person care we will tell you so and, where it is appropriate, help your next clinician get what they need. We do not treat conditions that require an in person examination or laboratory testing, and we do not treat a first suspected herpes outbreak in someone who has never been diagnosed.
6. Your part in this
You agree to answer our questions honestly and completely, including about your symptoms, your medical history, your allergies, the medications you take, and whether you are or may be pregnant. A clinician who is not examining you has only what you write, so an answer that is wrong or left out can lead to the wrong decision. Withholding information or giving inaccurate information in order to obtain a particular medication can result in serious harm to you, including in some cases death.
You agree that you are the patient, that you are at least 18 years old, and that you are physically located in a state where our clinician is licensed at the time of your visit. You agree to tell us if your symptoms change or worsen, and to seek in person care if you do not improve.
7. What you are acknowledging
By agreeing to this consent you acknowledge the following. You have read this document and understand the benefits and the limits of receiving care this way. You give your informed consent to receive care by telehealth from a Bidwell Health clinician. You understand that no particular result is guaranteed and that your condition may not improve. You understand that a clinician may decide, at their sole discretion, that your case is not suitable for treatment through this service, and that you may then need to be seen in person. You understand that paying the visit fee does not create a clinician patient relationship by itself, and that the relationship begins only when a clinician accepts your case. You understand that this service does not replace your relationship with any other health care provider you have. You understand that you cannot obtain emergency care here. You understand that your information is collected, used, and protected as described in our Privacy Policy, that you have received our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, which describes rights you hold regardless of this consent, and that you may obtain a copy of your record. You authorize us and our clinicians to use and share your information for treatment, payment, and health care operations, and to send your prescription to the pharmacy you select.
8. Withdrawing your consent
You may withhold or withdraw this consent at any time by emailing support@bidwellhealth.com. Withdrawing it does not affect care you have already received, and it does not entitle you to a refund of a visit fee where a clinician has already completed your assessment. Withdrawing it does not affect your right to seek care anywhere else, and you may ask for a referral to in person care at any time. If you do not withdraw it, this consent is renewed each time you begin a new visit.
9. Contact
Questions about this consent may be sent to support@bidwellhealth.com. Questions about your health information may be sent to privacy@bidwellhealth.com. Bidwell Health LLC, 1501 Belvedere Road, Suite 500, West Palm Beach, FL 33406.