How can a tourist get a doctor in NYC?

March 6, 2008 11:17 PM

How can an international visitor see a doctor in NYC? Will it cost more than my entire trip?

Im staying in midtown manhattan, and I think I might need a doctor. What I thought was food poisoning began on Wednesday night. Its now Friday morning and I still cant eat or drink anything. Further complicating things, is that Im due to hop a plane to SFO in a few hours. Regardless, I plan to wait until daylight to do anything.

Present condition also makes it a bit difficult to get to a pharmacy, so I figure that a doctor is the best option.

Im quite unfamiliar with the American healthcare system. How would I go about finding someone? Whats a ballpark estimatee on getting someone to visit me? Is there anything else I need to consider?

I'll be asking the hotel for recommendations in the morning. This place is tiny, so I doubt they have an existing relationship with a doc,

posted by kaydo to health & fitness (16 comments total)

First, if you are really sick, call 911 and an ambulance will come and take you to the hospital.

If you can manage it an urgent medical care clinic will give you better service and be cheaper than an emergency room. http://www.travelmd.com/ which I found by goggling around looks reasonable - you can call them and they will most likely page a doctor who will ring you back and you can discuss what to do next. Don't be nervous about asking how much everything will cost so you can make smart decision upfront. But be sure to take care of yourself.

For information on indigent care, try these folks: http://www.med.nyu.edu/nycfreeclinic/ they offer one of the free clinics and can advise you on places to get low cost or free care.
posted by zia at 11:40 PM on March 6, 2008

And by the way, most of the urgent care clinics in NYC seem to make house calls and have 24 hour pharmacies. I have no idea what they cost. But whatever they cost, an emergency room will be the most expensive option.
posted by zia at 11:41 PM on March 6, 2008

Do you have travel insurance? Does your country's health system cover costs if you are abroad? Try to figure this out, while you wait for more competent people to answer than I.

A short first-pass answer. If you must see a doc, the emergency room of a hospital, or an "urgent care clinic", are your options unless your hotel can work some magic. (They may be able to -- they should definitely be the first ones you talk to, especially if you're so ill you can't walk.)

Cost will depend on what the hospital or urgent care clinic does to you and what's wrong with you. A visit alone will be something like a few hundred if they don't do many tests (total guess on price - I'm not a New Yorker). Tests will bring up the cost, and if you need to remain in hospital the cost will rise hugely. Try to avoid an ambulance ride, since that is incredibly incredibly expensive. The other drawback is that you will wait a long time in the waiting room before you get seen.

You say your condition makes it hard to get to a pharmacy. Your hotel might be able to help with that, if all you need is some anti-diarrheal meds or something like that - they could probably send someone out to pick that up. But the pharmacy won't be able to give you anything heavier-duty (antibiotics) without a doctor's note anyway.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:41 PM on March 6, 2008

Unless there's something unique about New York, you're going to pay between $70 to $200 to visit a doctor. You're not going to find a doctor to visit you as the era of the "house call" passed 50 years ago. If you require prescribed (controlled) medication, you'll go to a pharmacy and pay anything from $12 to $200 for your medicine depending on what it is. If you require lab work to be done, you can expect to pay about $20 to $50 per test for routine things.

If you're admitted to the hospital for treatment, you will be paying thousands of dollars.

"Further complicating things, is that Im due to hop a plane to SFO in a few hours."

Visiting a doctor will take several hours or as much as a day. Plan to find a doctor in San Francisco or change your travel plans.

"Present condition also makes it a bit difficult to get to a pharmacy"

You'll find getting to a pharmacy much easier than getting to a doctor. A doctor will not get to you. If you need emergency treatment, pick up the nearest telephone and dial 911 and ask to be taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Otherwise you're going to have to find your own way around.
posted by majick at 11:45 PM on March 6, 2008

most of the urgent care clinics in NYC seem to make house calls
Wow - that's excellent. Disregard what I said about needing the hotel to work magic.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:45 PM on March 6, 2008

Btw, when I was very sick in NYC, St. Vincents was great. http://www.svcmc.org/

Call them and ask them for urgent care suggestions near your area. If you don't have travel insurance and can't afford to pay let them direct you - they'll probably have appropriate suggestions.
posted by zia at 11:46 PM on March 6, 2008

Sorry to keep posting - but I feel for you.

St. Vincents has a walkin urgent care clinic:
Fast Track -- For Minor Illnesses and Injuries – See Video
For people with minor illnesses and injuries, who do not have a primary care physician or whose physician is unavailable, we operate a Fast Track area in our emergency department. Designed for busy people, this service focuses on comfort and convenience along with high quality medical care. We offer private cubicles, bedside registration, telephones and a radiology suite for faster results. Our Fast Track area is operational from 8:00 a.m. until midnight, weekdays, and from 11:00 a.m. until midnight on weekends. No appointment is necessary; just walk in whenever you need help in a hurry!

St. Vincent Address and Phone:
170 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-604-7000

You can always get a yellow cab over there.
posted by zia at 11:51 PM on March 6, 2008

There are urgent care clinics affiliated with Beth Israel hospital called DOCS, and they can probably see you in the morning. They have several locations. But if you are too weak to go anywhere and can't keep anything down, you should probably go to an emergency room. You can check here for a listing of emergency rooms nearby.

For what it's worth, I went to the emergency room at Beth Israel a week ago for a far less serious illness than yours and I practically had to beg them to take my insurance. You won't be billed or asked for money right now if you are desperately ill.

Anyway, if you can't keep food or water down, you need immediate medical care and shouldn't be hopping on planes. Go downstairs, get the hotel to hail a taxi for you and have them take you to the emergency room. If you can keep it together long enough, call the airline and tell them to change your flight. Your health is more important than catching that flight.
posted by bedhead at 11:53 PM on March 6, 2008

I will second bedhead's recommendation of D.O.C.S.
I have several M.D. friends who work there, and I have also been a patient there several times in the past.

212-352-2600
202 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011

Not too far from midtown (although there are also other locations)

If you want to know what it will cost, just call and ask ahead of time. (They'll be asking for payment upfront anyway, so the cost of your initial visit will be known to you before you see the physician.)
posted by dudeman at 1:48 AM on March 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

You should definately check your travel insurance for medical cover. I know when I went to the states the advice was to get min £2,000,000 health care cover with your travel insurance.
posted by missmagenta at 3:01 AM on March 7, 2008

Do you have a credit card? My VISA card (issued in Austria) includes travel insurance. It covers medical costs due to sudden sickness or accident abroad with no limit.

If you have a credit card of some type, you may have similar coverage. Generally, you would have to pay for the care at the time it was given, then file a claim with the insurance company.

There are other kinds of memberships which offer free travel insurance - Hervis Sports, again here in Austria, offers free travel insurance if you sign up for their customer advantage card.

It might be worth it for you to think about memberships you have and see if any offer travel insurance already.
posted by syzygy at 4:14 AM on March 7, 2008

--I recommend DOCS as well.

You shouldn't have to wait too long in the waiting room, (certainly not hours!)

They open at 8.

There is one on 34th between Madison and Park.

55 E 34th St is the address. Take a cab.

They won't make you pay up-front, but it is reasonably priced and you can pay with a credit card.
posted by sondrialiac at 5:13 AM on March 7, 2008

By reasonably priced, I mean I've paid $125 and $75. It does depend on the complexity of your illness, but it's not going to be ridiculous.
posted by sondrialiac at 5:15 AM on March 7, 2008

I highly recommend talking to the hotel, either in SF or NYC. Quite often, hotels have relationships with "travel doctors." They may even come to your room, sometimes can dispense medication and bring common meds with them, and are used to dealing with travelers. If they don't know of any such doctors, see any of the good urgent care advice above.
posted by zachlipton at 5:37 AM on March 7, 2008

I'd buy travel insurance for the trip to SF, Just In Case. It probably won't cover you until at least a day after you buy it, and might decline to cover your medical costs in SFO (if it becomes apparent that you were sick when you bought it), but it's extremely cheap compared to the emergency care that you may need, can be purchased immediately online, and has good coverage.
You don't yet know if you'll need hospitalization in SF, the travel insurance is a hedge against that.
posted by -harlequin- at 8:50 AM on March 7, 2008

Hey all,

Thanks for all the help, this was hugely useful. I should have pointed out that I do have travel insurance, but I didnt want the fee to be massive in case there was an issue with my claim.

I followed the advice above and called the hotel around 5am, a doctor visited at 8am. The whole caper cost $350 including drugs.

Most of all its good to know there are so many other options. I hope this thread will be useful to someone else as well in the future.
posted by kaydo at 12:40 PM on March 7, 2008