Presence Answers
Virtual care & telehealth
Virtual care handles a large share of everyday primary care well, and some things not at all. These answers describe the line honestly so you do not pay for a visit that cannot help you.
Written by the Presence care team · No visit guarantees a prescription or a note · Membership is not insurance
Full answers in this category
What can telehealth actually help with?
A practical list of what a virtual visit handles well, what it handles partly, and what it cannot handle at all, written without overselling the format.
When should you use virtual care instead of going somewhere?
A straightforward decision guide for choosing between a virtual visit, an in-person appointment, urgent care and the emergency department, including red flags.
Should I use telehealth or go to urgent care?
Compare telehealth and urgent care on speed, cost, capability and follow-up, with a clear list of what urgent care can do that a virtual visit cannot.
How does an online medical visit actually work?
What happens before, during and after a virtual visit: what to prepare, what the provider can see, how prescriptions are handled and what follow-up looks like.
Can you use telehealth without insurance?
Telehealth is available without insurance through cash-pay visits or a membership. Compare the two routes, what each costs, and what to watch out for.
How much does telehealth cost?
What drives telehealth pricing, how per-visit fees compare with unlimited membership access, and the hidden add-ons to check before you pay.
Ready to act on this? 24/7 Virtual Care
Quick answers
Short answers to the questions people ask before booking. Each links to the page that owns the full detail.
Can I see a provider today?
Yes — same-day virtual visits are the normal case, and unlimited members have access at any hour.
You are not queued into an appointment grid. A visit is requested, a licensed provider takes your history, and the visit happens by phone or video. We do not promise a specific minute, because that would be a promise about staffing rather than about care.
Limits: Not an emergency service. Anything severe or frightening belongs in an emergency department.
Can I get care tonight, or on a weekend?
Yes. Membership virtual care runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, including holidays.
Overnight and weekend illness is the single most common reason people join. Whole Family Virtual Care covers everyone in the household at any hour; Presence membership plans include after-hours virtual access for the member.
Limits: Overnight virtual care cannot examine, image or stitch anything. Severe symptoms go to an emergency department.
My own practice cannot see me for weeks. What are my options?
Start virtually today. A great deal of everyday illness can be assessed and handled without waiting for the appointment you already hold.
You do not need to leave your existing practice. Many people use Presence for the gap — the acute problem, the refill, the result nobody explained — and keep their appointment for the rest.
Limits: If the problem needs an examination or imaging, a virtual visit will say so rather than fill the gap badly.
When should I go to urgent care instead of a virtual visit?
Go to urgent care when something must be looked at, listened to, imaged, stitched or tested on the spot.
Virtual care is strong for history-driven problems: respiratory illness, urinary symptoms, skin complaints you can show, medication questions, results review. Urgent care wins for injuries, wounds, possible fractures, ear examinations and anything needing hands or equipment.
Limits: Emergency symptoms are not an urgent-care decision either — call 911.
Is this an emergency, or can it wait?
Chest pain or pressure, breathing difficulty at rest, one-sided weakness, slurred speech, fainting, a seizure, confusion, severe or sudden abdominal pain, a stiff neck with fever, uncontrolled bleeding or thoughts of self-harm: call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department now.
Do not book any appointment, virtual or otherwise, while one of those is happening. Everything else is a judgement call, and a virtual visit is a reasonable place to make it — a provider can tell you within minutes whether you need to be seen.
Limits: This is general guidance, not a diagnosis. If a symptom frightens you, be assessed in person.
How does a virtual visit actually work?
You request a visit, a licensed provider takes your history by phone or video, and you leave with a plan — treatment where appropriate, testing where it changes the answer, or a clear instruction to be seen.
For most everyday illness, the history is the majority of the assessment. On video a provider can also see your throat, eyes, skin, breathing effort and how unwell you look. What cannot be done remotely — listening to your chest, examining ears, palpating an abdomen — is said plainly rather than worked around.
Limits: No remote examination replaces hands and instruments where those decide the diagnosis.
How do I prepare for a virtual visit?
Have your medication list, your pharmacy, when the problem started, what you have already tried, and — for anything visible — good light and a clear photo.
The visits that end in a decision rather than a follow-up are the ones where the timeline is clear: when it started, how it has changed, what makes it better or worse, any fever, any exposure, and what other conditions you carry. Take your temperature beforehand if you have a thermometer, and write down the questions you actually want answered.
Limits: A photograph never guarantees a diagnosis; it improves the odds of one.
Should I choose a phone visit or a video visit?
Choose video when there is something to look at — a rash, an eye, swelling, a wound. Phone is enough when the answer comes from your history.
A phone visit at $39 handles sore throats, coughs, sinus pressure, urinary symptoms, medication questions and follow-up conversations. A video visit at $49 earns its extra cost the moment a provider needs to see distribution, colour, swelling or how hard you are working to breathe. No smartphone is needed for a phone visit.
Limits: Neither modality can perform an examination that requires touch or instruments.
Other answer categories
About this information
Written by the Presence care team for patients considering care with us. Presence care is delivered by licensed providers, including a board-certified Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner — not by a physician, and not by software. Meet your provider.
This page explains how our service works. It is general information, not a diagnosis, and it is not a substitute for an evaluation of your own situation. Whether testing, treatment or a prescription is appropriate is decided during a visit.
If this is an emergency — chest pain, trouble breathing, stroke symptoms, severe bleeding, or thoughts of harming yourself — call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. See our emergency care notice.
Still deciding?
Call and we will tell you honestly which option fits your household — including when the answer is none of ours.