As a valued patient of our UCA family, we appreciate the trust you place in us and want to inform you about how we continue to balance our efforts to keep the safety of our patients and team members as our highest priority, while servicing patients’ urological needs.  We have seen great success with our offering telemedicine to patients for non-emergent visits.  Examples of these visits are 3, 6, of or 12 months follow ups, prescription refill requests, and BPH or Overactive Bladder consultations.  It is important for you to schedule these types of telemedicine appointments as it will add relief to our patient schedule once we are fully back up and running.   If lab work is required, an order will be sent to the lab and you will be contacted when regular lab services resume.

The patient feedback on the telemedicine visits has been extremely positive. H. Bailey, UCA patient writes, “First video medical apt I’ve ever had. I found it user friendly and effective. Really a very efficient, quality experience”.  Depending on your insurance, our providers are using Facetime, and Doxy.me for these visits.  We have enjoyed the ease of Doxy.me as it does not require you, the patient, to download any software.

To continue to provide the quality care you expect from UCA and the UCA Women’s Centers, we will continue to offer telemedicine visits to our patients.  You may request an appointment, using our online form –https://www.urologycentersalabama.com/telemedicine/

If you have an upcoming appointment with one of our physicians, a Medical Secretary will be contacting you to convert this visit to Telemedicine.

Quick Facts about Telemedicine:

• Telemedicine Appointments…are just like a regular doctor’s appointment
• Your doctor has made an appointment to see you (or for you to see a specialist or other healthcare professional), but you won’t meet in person. You will meet using a telephone, FaceTime, Zoom9 or Doxy.me. These forms of communication uses videoconferencing equipment and the internet to connect you and your healthcare provider. This will reduce the need to travel to an appointment.
• What is a telemedicine visit? Telemedicine uses interactive video equipment to connect you to your doctor or a specialist – allowing you to attend an appointment without the hardship of traveling long distances. Telemedicine all but eliminates the barriers of time and distance, giving you a whole new level of convenience, efficiency and independence.
• How does a telemedicine clinical visit work? A telemedicine appointment is just like a regular appointment; the only difference is that you will see and speak with your healthcare professional via videoconferencing/phone call. Before you start the appointment, the healthcare professional you are going to see will already have relevant information about you to support your telemedicine visit.
• Is there a cost for a telemedicine appointment? Yes. Medicaid and most Private Insurance Companies reimburse for telemedicine visits as if they were face-to-face.
• Is telemedicine private? Just like a regular doctor’s appointment, your telemedicine visit will be private and confidential. It can only be seen and heard by the healthcare professionals involved

Our Alabaster, Grandview, Trussville, Homewood, Medical West, Princeton and UCA Women’s Center locations are still operational to see patients with emergent cases.   Below are examples of emergent visit types that can be seen in office:

• Symptomatic Kidney stones
• Symptomatic Gross Hematuria (Blood in urine)
• Urinary Retention (unable to urinate)
• UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) with Severe Symptoms. Physician will determine if the patient needs to be seen and if a culture is needed.
• Certain scrotal or testicular issues. Examples are scrotal abscesses and Testicular Torsion (twisted testicles).  Physician will use their discretion if patient needs to be sent to the ER.
• Priapism – persistent and painful erection of the penis.
• Penile Fracture

If there is any other urologic issue that you feel you need to seek urgent treatment for, please contact our office at 205-930-0920.

The hospitals and surgery centers continue to delay elective surgeries through the end of April.    If you have any questions regarding your delayed surgery, please reach out to a surgery scheduler or request a telemedicine visit with your physician.

The UCA Van Scott Cancer Center is excited to announce that Dr. Lee Burnett, Radiation Oncologist, has joined the team.  He brings to us his expertise in Image-Guided Radiation Therapy for Genitourinary Malignancies (Prostate, Bladder, Gynecology) and Brachytherapy Radiation Implants (Internal treatments, both Low Dose Radiation and High Dose Radiation).  He will be joining Dr. Larson and Dr. Duncan in treating patients.  For more information on Dr. Burnett, please visit https://www.urologycentersalabama.com/provider/dr-lee-burnett/ .  Our Cancer Center continues to treat patients in office and via telemedicine during this time as well.

The UCA Dispensary is still open and filling prescription requests. During this time we are offering free in-state shipping on Sildenafil and Tadalafil prescriptions filled in house.  For more information on the Dispensary, please visit https://www.urologycentersalabama.com/dispensary/

UCA will also begin offering a Chronic Care Management program for select patients.  Chronic Care Management is an initiative started by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to encourage medical practices to identify patients with two or more chronic conditions, determine changes in their health, and to help manage these changes. The program is a preventative measure in order to avoid unnecessary emergency room or hospital visits. It is also meant to minimize readmission to hospitals after patient release.  For more information and to see if you may be a candidate for this program, please visit our website at https://www.urologycentersalabama.com/chronic-care-management/ .

During these uncertain times, UCA remains committed to its mission of providing state-of-the-art, patient-centered urologic care with integrity and compassion.  Please remember we are just a phone call away.