Tampa company offers 24-7 telephone, online access to a nurse or physician by phone, 365 days a year

TAMPA - How would you like phone access 24-7 to a board certified physician, 365 days a year?  A new company in Tampa, Call MD Plus, says they can do that for a small price. They call it concierge telemedicine. 

For a monthly fee, you can have access to a nurse or doctor 24 - 7, 365 days a year though not necessarily in person but by telephone or internet. 

When you first sign up, your medical history is documented so the more than 800 physicians in the network have access to it. Then when you have a medical problem - you call Call MD Plus, no matter where you are.

Dr. Brian Allard is their CEO. “You're going to get a nurse on the line. That nurse will take your medical information and present concern. At that point you may be put with a nurse in your state." Or you could be connected with a doctor in your state. 

Terri White, who is married to the COO of Call MD Plus, describes how her family benefited when their daughter caught a sinus infection while playing volleyball out of town. “We called the Call MD service and with in one hour we heard back from a registered physician and within the following hour a prescription was called in to the pharmacy right in the very parking lot where we were waiting. We would have had to go to a walk in clinic or an emergency room and waited for hours and it would have cost us three times as much money."

But Doctor James Orlowski, head of ethics at Florida Hospital Tampa, has concerns about doctors prescribing meds for patients they have not seen. He says he recently reviewed a case of telemedicine. “The medicine was based on weight.  The doctor thought the patient weight 98 kilograms which is about 215 pounds. The patient really weighed 98 pounds so the patient got two and half times the right dosage of the medicine and that's not something that would happen in a doctor saw a person face to face."

But CEO Allard says they don't prescribe dangerous narcotics and, “We’re not going to prescribe something new to someone that they haven't taken before typically. We actually call back our patients after the service and  most doctors don't even call back."

FormerTampa BayBuccaneer Mark Royals is in charge of marketing for the company. “I have kids. They normally never dictate when they're going to get sick and it’s normally never convenient."

Mark says the biggest need Call MD Plus is meeting is for those 3 am calls when the ER is the only other option. “Being able to pick up a phone and have access to a board certified physician and get the process rolling that's were it comes in handy."

We called the Florida Department of Health to see what the law is regarding doctors in Florida prescribing medicine to patients they've never seen.  A press secretary told us there are variables and its not a clear-cut yes or no answer. We're waiting for a more detailed response.

Meanwhile, Call MD Plus also has a discount program for doctor visits and for prescription drugs. They also have a referral program but say that is not required to become a client.

For more information on Call MD Plus go to www.callmdplus.com or call 813-381-5672.