How Do Virtual Rheumatology Appointments Work & Are They as Good as In-Person?

How does a virtual rheumatology care team work for you?

As you go through your patient journey, there’s one key element that becomes clear: finding the right, supportive rheumatologist and overall healthcare team is the most important part of life as a person with a chronic condition. 

The right doctor and team help keep you on a successful path to sustained remission – feeling good, positive and hopeful each day about the symptoms that touch most aspects of your life and the treatment to heal them.

When you're looking for or considering a new rheumatology practice, it may feel like a given that an in-person appointment is mandatory. And I understand that, as an autoimmune rheumatology patient myself, first diagnosed 14 years ago. 

However, through the years of my practice and as a patient, I see great benefits to a telehealth practice — if I felt I wasn't able to diagnose you, or treat your symptoms as well or better than an in-person appointment, I would not practice medicine this way.

Rheumission has adopted a virtual-first approach to treating rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and psoriatic arthritis. We believe that our telehealth model improves accessibility, convenience, and better serves our patients overall. Below I’ll take you through the three reasons why.

Why is a virtual visit as good as an in-person visit?

A virtual rheumatology visit can be just as good as an in-person visit because, in both scenarios, the patient’s clinical history, labs, and imaging often inform the diagnosis.

Sometimes, swelling can be subtle and hard to visualize through a virtual exam. In these cases, the patient would be referred out for imaging. This is not dissimilar to in-person visits - rheumatologists often order imaging to fully visualize joint swelling before confirming a diagnosis. 

An in-person visit does allow me to press on joints and do needle injections and aspirations. If injections are needed for virtual patients, you may be referred to local clinics who can perform the test and then send me the results that we can review together.

How can I ensure that my diagnosis will be the same as if I saw you in-person?

A rheumatology diagnosis relies most heavily on the patient’s clinical history, labs, and imaging. However, there are some cases where parts of the physical exam are unclear, and the patient’s history, labs, and imaging do not provide enough information. In these few cases, a referral to an in-person rheumatologist may be needed. 

In all rheumatology visits, it’s important that I can focus on you, and listen closely to your history. Some in-person doctors barely examine patients or look at them during a visit. 

Communication does not need to be rushed during a telehealth visit, and communication styles are often very individual to the provider. At Rheumission, our initial visits are one hour long, and follow-up visits run for 30 minutes. This is an uncommonly high amount of time for medical appointments, but we understand and value deeply listening to our patients and their history, before jumping into treatment decisions.

What are some benefits of virtual care?

Virtual care increases accessibility and decreases wait times before appointments. If there’s a case where you need an in-person exam, you can start and continue on with virtual appointments rather than waiting months for any sort of care. 

As an autoimmune patient myself, I know that a lot of autoimmune patients struggle with brain fog and keeping track of their appointments. One benefit of virtual care is that it’s easier to jump into a visit or make up a visit after the fact. For example, say you forgot about your appointment and went to the beach. You remembered that you had an appointment once you got there, but you could still complete the exam outside of your home. Virtual visits can be completed anywhere at the convenience of the patient. If this were an in-person visit, it would be much more difficult to make up the visit if forgotten. 

A common issue with our world’s shift towards more remote/virtual models is a general decrease in physical activity. In the case of virtual appointments, you lose the walk to and from the clinic. 

This would be a loss for a conventional telehealth practice that does not include movement as a part of its treatment approach. However, here at Rheumission, we’ve adopted an integrative, lifestyle approach where we encourage patients to incorporate more movement into their routine as part of every treatment plan. 

So what's the most important thing to know about telehealth rheumatology visits?

Remote rheumatology visits are comparable to in-person appointments, with increased availability, convenience, and unrushed time for deeper conversations about your health. 

While remote models are still relatively new, we believe that the increased accessibility and coordination of care within a telehealth practice is the best way forward for rheumatology patients, which is why we set up Rheumission – so that we can give you the best care possible.

To learn more about our Rheumission approach to care, please visit the Approach section of our site, or book a 15-minute intro call with one of our providers. Our approach is to help you get back to being you, with more joy and less pain. We will listen to you and co-create a plan that works for where you are now, and where you want to be. We are always here for you.

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About the Author

Dr. Micah Yu is an integrative rheumatologist who incorporates complementary medicine with traditional rheumatology. He is quadruple board-certified in Rheumatology, Internal Medicine, Integrative Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. He obtained his MD from Chicago Medical School and holds a Masters in Healthcare Administration and Biomedical sciences. He completed his internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship at Loma Linda University in Southern California. He is a graduate of the Andrew Weil Integrative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Arizona. In addition, he is certified in functional medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine. He has a very unique perspective on autoimmune disease and arthritis, as he is both a patient with arthritis and physician. Dr. Yu was diagnosed with gout at the age of 17 and later diagnosed with spondyloarthritis as well. He is able to understand his patient’s medical problems from a patient perspective. The foundation of his practice is to combine allopathic medicine with complementary medicine. He works with his patients to come up with a treatment plan that not only fights the disease, but also is aligned with his patient’s goals. In addition to Rheumission, Dr. Yu is on social media under @MYAutoimmuneMD educating about autoimmune diseases and integrative medicine.

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Note: This information is for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new healthcare regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.