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Speaker 1: From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.

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Speaker 1: Each and every week we come together right here talk

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Speaker 1: about all the topics important to you and the place

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Speaker 1: where you live. Thanks for tuning in again this week.

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Speaker 1: I'm Nicole Davis. Last week on the show, doctor Larry

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Speaker 1: Mattoff from the Department of Public Health was here and

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Speaker 1: we talked about just how intense the flu is this year.

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Speaker 1: By the way, if you haven't heard that interview yet,

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Speaker 1: it's up on the podcast, go check it out now.

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Speaker 1: This week, as a follow up of sorts, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to talk with an expert about your options for care.

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Speaker 1: Think about it. The cost of healthcare is so high

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Speaker 1: right now. We just entered a new year. Your deductible

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Speaker 1: is not paid off at this point. PCPs are in

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Speaker 1: short supply around Massachusetts. The ACA subsidies have been canceled.

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Speaker 1: Emergency rooms are packed. What do you do if you're

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Speaker 1: not feeling well?

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Speaker 2: Well?

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Speaker 1: Doctor Dustin Cottleer at south Shore Health is here to

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Speaker 1: chat about that. Doctor, Thank you for the time before

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Speaker 1: we get into all of these questions. What are you

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Speaker 1: seeing over there in your health system when it comes

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Speaker 1: to the flu.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, so kind of speaking to what you're mentioning,

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Speaker 2: We're seeing very high volumes of patients both within our

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Speaker 2: urgent care clinics and also within the ER. And so

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Speaker 2: because of the large influx of patients, all parts of

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Speaker 2: the I say, all parts of the healthcare system in

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Speaker 2: general are pretty taxed, and so patients are having a

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Speaker 2: really hard time getting the care that they need in general.

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Speaker 2: So that's part of the role that we like to fail,

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Speaker 2: or that we fail at south Shore Health. Urgent care.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think that most people tend to gravitate

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Speaker 1: towards the emergency room over going to a PCP or

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Speaker 1: an urgent care great question.

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Speaker 2: I think that you know, urgent care, the emergency room

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Speaker 2: and urgent care is as a necessity for many people

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Speaker 2: because access is challenging. It's very hard, as people know,

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Speaker 2: to get an appointment with their primary doctor or with

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Speaker 2: the specialists. There's long wait times, and so urgent care

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Speaker 2: and the er as well, we fill that important need

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Speaker 2: or that important gap where people can get the care

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Speaker 2: that they need when they need it. And so one

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Speaker 2: of the reasons I think that people a lot of

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Speaker 2: people end up in the er is that it can

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Speaker 2: be very challenging for patients to know whether they should

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Speaker 2: whether you know what they're sick or they have a

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Speaker 2: particular problem, whether they should be going to an urgent

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Speaker 2: care center, or whether they should be going to an

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Speaker 2: emergency department.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that. Then when should somebody say

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Speaker 1: they've got a cold, or they think they might have

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Speaker 1: the flu or it could be covid, whatever it is

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Speaker 1: they're feeling. When should somebody lean toward heading toward an

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Speaker 1: urgent care as opposed to the emergency room.

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Speaker 2: So there are a few things that I would think about.

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Speaker 2: One of them would be difficulty breathing. So, as a

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Speaker 2: lot of a lot of the viewers know, when you're sick,

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Speaker 2: you typically will get a bad cough, and so a

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Speaker 2: lot of these viruses, covid, flu RSV have major effects

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Speaker 2: on the lungs, and so there can be this could

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Speaker 2: be challenging for patients to sort of stort out. But

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Speaker 2: there's there's a little bit of a difference between a

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Speaker 2: subjective feeling of being short of breath or being winded

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Speaker 2: versus actually having trouble breathing. So if somebody is feeling

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Speaker 2: pretty short of breath and they're having a really hard

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Speaker 2: time catching a breath or or they're having a hard

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Speaker 2: time forming sentences. That's something that we might look at

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Speaker 2: or assess in the clinic, is how well or how

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Speaker 2: comfortable it is or someone to string together words or sentences.

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Speaker 2: If somebody is having a hard time doing that, then

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Speaker 2: that means that they're breathing is labored, and they might

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Speaker 2: want to hedge and go towards the emergency department. Some

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Speaker 2: other things too when it comes to breathing, would be

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Speaker 2: an oxygen saturation. So if someone a typical normal action

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Speaker 2: saturation is over ninety three percent, So if somebody had

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Speaker 2: an at home device and they're checking it and it

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Speaker 2: tends to you range, you know, lower down to ninety

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Speaker 2: three or below, that would also be a good a

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Speaker 2: good reason to go to the emergency department versus urgent care.

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Speaker 1: Okay, And unfortunately, if you do go to the er,

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Speaker 1: there is going to be probably a pretty good way

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Speaker 1: because you said they are crammed. But if you are

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Speaker 1: in that sort of a space where you can't breathe,

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Speaker 1: or you're having you know, heard issues, or you're passing

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Speaker 1: out or something, you need to go and they will

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Speaker 1: get you through. If you are in really rough shape.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely. I think that something that a lot of

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Speaker 2: people don't know is that when patients show up to

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Speaker 2: the emergency department and there are typically long waits, especially

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Speaker 2: this time of year, that it isn't it's a combination

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Speaker 2: of first come, first serve, but even more importantly, how

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Speaker 2: sick the person is, and that's actually weighted a lot

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Speaker 2: more than the time or the order that somebody arrives there.

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Speaker 2: So when patients arrive to the er, they get initially triage,

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Speaker 2: and they get their vital signs taken, they have an

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Speaker 2: experienced nurse assess them, and so at that initial visit

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Speaker 2: point in the er, they're basically the patients assigned a

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Speaker 2: level of seriousness you could think of, so people, if

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Speaker 2: somebody showed up to the er and they were having

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Speaker 2: true difficulty breathing, that person's going to be taken back

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Speaker 2: very quickly into the er and assessed, just like somebody who,

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Speaker 2: let's say came in on the ambulance for trouble breathing.

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Speaker 1: Now somebody thinks, okay, so I shouldn't go to the er,

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Speaker 1: but I'm still not really feeling all that good. What

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Speaker 1: happens then when they go to the urgent care? What

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Speaker 1: does your care or how does your care differ and

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Speaker 1: how is your care similar to what they would get

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Speaker 1: at the er.

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Speaker 2: Great question, So in urgent care, urgent care is really

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Speaker 2: a great initial option for I would say the vast

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Speaker 2: majority of people, and so at Sashare Health Urgent Care

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Speaker 2: where I work, most of our clinicians are either experienced

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Speaker 2: board certified emergency physicians or our pas or nps who

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Speaker 2: are very experienced, including experience working in the er. So

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Speaker 2: one of the things that we're very our providers are

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Speaker 2: very very skilled that is assessing a patient quickly to

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Speaker 2: get a sense of you know, how to get a

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Speaker 2: sense of severity and how severe the person's condition is

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Speaker 2: or how at risk they are to compensation. So even

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Speaker 2: going that's a very comic thing that that we see

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Speaker 2: and we deal with an urgent care is people who

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Speaker 2: come and who ultimately need to be transferred to the

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Speaker 2: er because they're just a little bit too sick.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't that long ago, I feel when urgent care

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Speaker 1: there were only a few of them, but I've noticed

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Speaker 1: a lot of urgent cares popping up, and I know

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Speaker 1: you over at south Shore Health they're really leaning into this.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about access. What is it looking like now

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Speaker 1: when it comes to urgent care access in your part

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Speaker 1: of the state.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we short Health. We have six clinics all

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Speaker 2: across all along the South Shore, and we we have

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Speaker 2: and we have where definitely we feel an important need

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Speaker 2: for access or patients. We're open seven seven days a week,

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Speaker 2: including the weekends, and we have various different ways that

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Speaker 2: you can interface with us. You can schedule an appointment beforehand,

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Speaker 2: you can walk in, you can pre register, and so

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Speaker 2: there there are a lot of options for patients when

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Speaker 2: it comes to urgent care, specifically not necessarily some of

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Speaker 2: the other traditional avenues of receiving care like primary care

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Speaker 2: or specialty clinics, but in terms of urgent care, there

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Speaker 2: are options. The one of the main differentiators between us

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Speaker 2: and some of the other options are some of the

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Speaker 2: more corporate options, is that we are we are fully

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Speaker 2: integrated into a robust health system that is very trusted

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Speaker 2: in the area, and we provide access to uh you know,

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Speaker 2: BOORD certified position and very experienced pas and nps, which

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Speaker 2: I think is different than some of the other of

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Speaker 2: the other like providers in the or other clinics in

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Speaker 2: the in the area, and we definitely hold ourselves a

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Speaker 2: very high standard and definitely at least we believe that

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Speaker 2: we provide a higher level of care than some of

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Speaker 2: our competitors.

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Speaker 1: What if somebody is worried about insurance or you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean the whole ACA situation when it comes to

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Speaker 1: copays and higher premiums, A lot of people might not

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Speaker 1: be wanting to sign up for insurance right now. They

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Speaker 1: might be struggling, frankly with the high cost of healthcare.

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Speaker 1: How can urgent care help with that or how can

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Speaker 1: people navigate that with urgent care being an option?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely, I definitely feel that it's a stressful

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Speaker 2: time for people in general, whether it's Coloba, flu season,

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Speaker 2: the economy, and as you mentioned, a lot of disruptions

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Speaker 2: in ACA based coverage. Urgent care is a great option

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Speaker 2: for many people. I think that the one of the

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Speaker 2: more important things that I advise people just in general

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Speaker 2: is just thinking about your insurance network. And so a

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Speaker 2: good starting point is to check with your insurance plan,

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Speaker 2: assuming you have insurance to see you know that the that

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Speaker 2: the clinic you're going to go through is in network.

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Speaker 2: That's always very helpful, and we're we have a very

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Speaker 2: large network of insurance providers that we uh contract with.

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Speaker 2: The other thing too, is that we for patients who

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Speaker 2: aren't as fortunate to have insurance. We have robust self

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Speaker 2: pay options, and we have predictable pricing for different services,

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Speaker 2: and our providers are very very trained and skilled working

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Speaker 2: with patients who are self pay to develop a cohesive

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Speaker 2: treatment plan that works for the patient and uh you know,

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Speaker 2: works in terms of finances, and we're very upfront and

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Speaker 2: transparent about pricing before we do any testing or treatments.

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Speaker 2: Working in urging care, we we are in a sense

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Speaker 2: ground zero for the difficulties that patients face in the

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Speaker 2: healthcare system, and so we view ourselves as a stop

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Speaker 2: gap for people who are unable to get into see

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Speaker 2: their doctor or who need care then in there but

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Speaker 2: don't you know, but aren't don't warrant an emergency department visit.

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Speaker 2: And also a lot of we see so many patients

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Speaker 2: also who are uninsured or under insured, and so we

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Speaker 2: really were really fully understanding of the challenges that people

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Speaker 2: are facing, and our main goal is really to step

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Speaker 2: up to the challenge and be there for patients to

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Speaker 2: provide a very high level of care.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, then let's talk about how people can

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Speaker 1: get a hold of you. You mentioned you've got urgent

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Speaker 1: cares open seven days a week. If somebody is just

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Speaker 1: kind of feeling down and out, just not really enjoying

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Speaker 1: their time with the flu or COVID or whatever pops up,

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Speaker 1: how should they get in touch with you to set

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Speaker 1: up an appointment or to seek answers for whatever they're

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Speaker 1: dealing with.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely, so, I would jump on Google. And we

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Speaker 2: previously were called Health southsh for Health Express Urgent Care,

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Speaker 2: and now we are officially south Shore Health Urgent Care.

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Speaker 2: So jump on Google look for one of our six locations.

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Speaker 2: We have locations at Weymouth, Abington, Braintree, Pembroke, Kingston and Plymouth.

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Speaker 2: And you can just go on our website and schedule appointment,

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Speaker 2: or you can pre register, or you could just walk in.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, doctor, thank you for the time, and I

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Speaker 1: hope that the rest of flu season goes quickly and

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Speaker 1: things ease up a bit for you all in the

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Speaker 1: healthcare field.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: I hope you have a safe and healthy and warm weekend.

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Speaker 1: Please come back and join us again next week for

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Speaker 1: another edition. Of the show. I'm Nicole Davis FROMBZ news

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Speaker 1: Radio on iHeartRadio