I am planning for next summer (college move in and beyond) . Question re: doctors appts.

[mlktwins]

When do you (or your kids) schedule regular doctor's appts when they go off to school?  Thanksgiving break?  Winter, spring, or summer?  My boys do a yearly derm appt and that they had on Tuesday.  Today is their yearly eye appt.  Their yearly physical is Oct.  Dentist is twice a year.  The doctors, especially for the eye appt, need to be made a year in advance (non emergency of course).  They both wear glasses (no contacts) and that appt is today.  I'm worried to make one for next year in August because we may be moving them into their dorms.  So many things to figure out -- LOL.

[EKS]

Winter break and summer break.  And much of the time things got and get skipped.

[Kassia]

20 minutes ago, EKS said:

Winter break and summer break.  And much of the time things got and get skipped.

Yes, same.  Dd had her dental cleaning scheduled in January for winter break but the dentist's office had covid so it had to be  canceled and she didn't get it done until summer.  It's definitely tricky for some appointments.  They can get physicals at Minute Clinic or get established at a PCP office near campus though - that could be useful especially depending on the campus health care.  Some universities have good services and others not so much.

[kokotg]

My oldest kid is SUPER late for a dental cleaning between college and covid; he's just home this month this summer, and he's going next week (I scheduled it when I had the other kids there in the spring). He needs to go to the eye doctor, too, but we just do the optometrist at Target and I can usually get an appointment within a few days (I can't imagine needing to schedule a year in advance!) I'm not especially worried about a yearly physical at his age (I certainly didn't do them then) given that he doesn't have any particular health issues. He can use the health center at his college as needed or CVS or whatever for stuff like vaccines. 

[mlktwins]

11 minutes ago, kokotg said:

My oldest kid is SUPER late for a dental cleaning between college and covid; he's just home this month this summer, and he's going next week (I scheduled it when I had the other kids there in the spring). He needs to go to the eye doctor, too, but we just do the optometrist at Target and I can usually get an appointment within a few days (I can't imagine needing to schedule a year in advance!) I'm not especially worried about a yearly physical at his age (I certainly didn't do them then) given that he doesn't have any particular health issues. He can use the health center at his college as needed or CVS or whatever for stuff like vaccines. 

Dental cleanings and derm I'm sure I can get around.  They have gone to their eye doctor since they were very young (DS1 was 1 year old and had a clogged tear duct).  He is one of the top pediatric eye doctors in our area and is super busy.  But...I am going to talk to him today about moving them to another doctor.  He may release them anyway because they will be 18 their next visit.

The boys have never had blood work done, so am going to talk to their ped about it this October.  I would at least like a baseline and then see if they are released from there as well.

[Arcadia]

The pediatric eye doctor can keep them since they have been seeing him since young. So it is more your call whether you want your kids to stay with the same doctor for longer.

As for bloodwork, ask for the comprehensive metabolic panel to be run as well. Usually only complete blood count is run and that doesn’t include stuff like calcium and protein which are worth monitoring as well. Did not realize that my protein level was slightly lower than normal range until the comprehensive metabolic panel was run and my oncologist nagged me to up my protein intake. Protein helps in illness recovery. 
As for annual physical exams, the university health services should take care of that. 

Can’t help with the scheduling part since my friends’ kids are making use of their universities’ health services for anything that they don’t want to wait until winter break or start of summer holidays.

[teachermom2834]

Mostly things just got squeezed in when possible or missed. I couldn’t keep up with their ever changing schedules so I left it to them to schedule though I nagged a bit. I mostly just let it go. So I nagged and made reminders and suggestions. Sometimes they got in and sometimes they missed. Once they finished college and got settled they got themselves established again.

We don’t have many fussy issues. The kids that wear glasses can go to any chain and get what they need. They have managed health issues with student health centers and walk in clinics (and ERs! when necessary). The dentist bugs me more because I grew up never seeing a dentist and it was a point of pride for me that my kids never missed a checkup. But my one who missed for a couple years in college just went for the first time in a long while and it was fine. 
 

I do leave it up to them and just remind a couple times. 

[mlktwins]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

The pediatric eye doctor can keep them since they have been seeing him since young. So it is more your call whether you want your kids to stay with the same doctor for longer.

So...our beloved eye doctor is retiring in Feb 2024 so I made one last appt with him for August 15, 2023 and will hope for the best.  We need to find a new doctor regardless.

[Clemsondana]

Thinking back to my college days...a lot of appointments became more erratic for several years. Obviously you can't let a long-term health condition go unchecked, but for other appointments I focused on what I actually needed.  Like, my optometrists have often told me to come when I feel like I need something - if every 2 years is enough, that's fine, and if I need something sooner, call.  The same for teeth - my dentist has me come yearly, while others in my family go every 6 months, and I know somebody who goes every 3 months.  Your kids may prefer to see somebody near where they go to college - I went to an optometrist that was walkable from campus during my college/grad school years, and I probably went every 18 months and scheduled it myself.  My grad school had a dentist on campus, and I went there a couple of times.  I did sometimes see a pratictioner from my hometown.  But, it would have been hard to know when to schedule something a year in advance since I wasn't usually home for the full break.  Over Christmas break I often had marching band bowl trips taking up part of it.  One year I went to the beach with friends the week after classes ended and didn't go straight home.  2 years I had a job on campus, and another year I had an internship.  Your situation may be different, but there's no guarantee that a college student will be home during the times when classes aren't in session.

[Alice]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:54 PM, mlktwins said:

 

The boys have never had blood work done, so am going to talk to their ped about it this October.  I would at least like a baseline and then see if they are released from there as well.

We don’t typically do blood work on healthy kids, except for a cholesterol screening at 11 and again at 18. I often have parents asking for "baseline bloodwork" and while I’m happy to order it if they want it done, it often won’t be covered by insurance for that age group unless there is a specific diagnosis. 

Depends on your doc, but at our practice we see patients up until 21. I think that’s true of most docs in this area (I’m also in NOVA). Insurances used to not cover patient seeing us after that point but many will now cover them seeing us up until 23. I usually feel like they are better served transitioning to an adult doc before that point and most are ready and want to leave. My answer to people about transitioning care is usually that it’s up to the teens...some would rather just stick with the known quantity and some really want to not be in an office with babies. I find a lot of people see us before going to college and then if they are home on break and they have an issue it’s easier to see us than someone else. And then at some point during their time in college, they find a new doctor. 

[Farrar]

I had my collegebound kid do a physical before leaving over the summer. His practice can do telehealth for things like meds and so forth at college if he needs it.

My biggest surprise for college wasn't the doctor stuff, it was the insurance, fyi. Ours worked out fine, but some peoples' don't and you end up having to buy new insurance for your student at college through the college because they can't get the coverage they need in another state. I guess... just be aware.

[MamaSprout]

Mine started college in the middle of doing blood tests and has continued to have phone meetings with her NP at home. We have another layer b/c she's a minor and needs to schedule to see a specialist. She won't be home until Christmas, so I'm consider setting up her specialist appointment in a city near where she's in school and traveling there to take her.

She missed her August dentist appointment, so I'm debating having her that there, too. But we didn't think she would need a car, so she doesn't have one.

She also broke her glasses last week and can't get anywhere to get a new pair. I'm thinking maybe I just need to take her a car because the bus doesn't go to campus any more.

I did go ahead and buy the student health insurance. We have high deducible insurance and also this covers her at school for sure. 

[mlktwins]

19 hours ago, Alice said:

We don’t typically do blood work on healthy kids, except for a cholesterol screening at 11 and again at 18. I often have parents asking for "baseline bloodwork" and while I’m happy to order it if they want it done, it often won’t be covered by insurance for that age group unless there is a specific diagnosis. 

Depends on your doc, but at our practice we see patients up until 21. I think that’s true of most docs in this area (I’m also in NOVA). Insurances used to not cover patient seeing us after that point but many will now cover them seeing us up until 23. I usually feel like they are better served transitioning to an adult doc before that point and most are ready and want to leave. My answer to people about transitioning care is usually that it’s up to the teens...some would rather just stick with the known quantity and some really want to not be in an office with babies. I find a lot of people see us before going to college and then if they are home on break and they have an issue it’s easier to see us than someone else. And then at some point during their time in college, they find a new doctor. 

Thank you.  I had no idea the baseline bloodwork wouldn't be covered.  One of mine has not had a blood draw since he was a newborn (I'm pretty sure).  The other has had a couple, but none in a long time.  Not even cholesterol for either of them?  Both are very athletic though so maybe that is why?  I will ask in October when we are there.

 

[Alice]

21 hours ago, Farrar said:

I had my collegebound kid do a physical before leaving over the summer. His practice can do telehealth for things like meds and so forth at college if he needs it.

 

For others who might be reading...on the telehealth thing, it’s variable by state and somewhat by insurance. We do telehealth but our state limits us from doing it across state lines. During the pandemic everything opened up but now it’s shut down again. So I can (and frequently do) televisits for kids at colleges in state but can’t do them if they go out of state. 

7 hours ago, mlktwins said:

Thank you.  I had no idea the baseline bloodwork wouldn't be covered.  One of mine has not had a blood draw since he was a newborn (I'm pretty sure).  The other has had a couple, but none in a long time.  Not even cholesterol for either of them?  Both are very athletic though so maybe that is why?  I will ask in October when we are there.

 

It might be covered, just depends on insurance and my experience has been they’ve really tightened up on "routine" labs. Like it’s really hard to get Vitamin D as a test covered anymore unless you have a past documented low Vitamin D (you can see the Catch 22 there). The AAP recommends doing a cholesterol at 11 and again at 17-18 so those are sometimes covered but not always. We have a machine in our office so it’s less of a fee for parents if it isn’t covered. I personally have mixed feelings about doing cholesterols on healthy kids/teens because generally the recommendations if it’s high are "eat healthier and get more exercise" but we recommend that anyway and there isn’t great evidence that knowing that your cholesterol is slightly high changes behavior in that age group. It’s different if there is a big risk factor as far as family history or a kid who is obese, but I’m a bit skeptical of the routine checks. 

[Farrar]

1 hour ago, Alice said:

For others who might be reading...on the telehealth thing, it’s variable by state and somewhat by insurance. We do telehealth but our state limits us from doing it across state lines. During the pandemic everything opened up but now it’s shut down again. So I can (and frequently do) televisits for kids at colleges in state but can’t do them if they go out of state. 

Yeah, that's why I say our practice. They are a national one with different offices in various states so I assume that's part of why they're able to.

[easypeasy]

We've had horrible luck scheduling on holidays. Many of my kids' doctors and specialists are relatively young with young families. Guess when they schedule a LOT of time off? lol Christmas and summertime. We are currently finding a new dermatologist for DD and both DSs in their college towns because their current derm was off almost all summer with her kids and her winter appointments close on like December 5 and won't reopen until the end of January.

I am currently curmudgeonly thinking that dermatologists must make way too much money to be able to take off time like that. lol (I just googled it and, holy moly!!! Why aren't any of my kids going into dermatology?!?!?!?!!?!!!!!!!!!!!!)

They were able to squeeze in vision and dental visits but will prob wind up moving dental visits to their college towns as well. They hate to spend so much time at Christmas visiting doctors. 😄 (but our eye doctor is phenomenal so they all want to stick with him and already have Christmas break appointments scheduled, haha!)

DD2 has a primary care physician in her college town but the boys both don't want to bother, so they'll just go to the school clinic, I suppose, as needed.

Edited September 12, 2022 by easypeasy