Please find part 2 of the interview here:
http://www.sugarstats.com/2008/03/14/interview-with-dr-anita-ramsetty-endocrinologist-part2/

We’re honored and proud to have Dr. Anita Ramsetty as our first featured expert blogger (more highly talented expert bloggers to follow, so stay tuned foks!).

As our introduction to you we have included excerpts from a recent interview between Nedrra Lanakila, partner and COO (Chief of Operations) of SugarStats and a parent of a Type 1 Diabetic, and Dr. Anita Ramsetty that talks about her background, her interests and her medical online practice at EndocrineHelp.com.

During the month of March we will present several segments on our blog from a series of interviews with Dr. Ramsetty.

This is the first of that series to introduce Dr. Ramsetty’s expertise and online practice to our community.

Nedrra Lanakila (N): We’re thrilled you have this wonderful service called EndocrineHelp.com. Please take a few minutes to introduce yourself and describe this service to our community who really needs your expert guidance online.

Dr. Anita Ramsetty (A): I am so excited to be a part of this exciting community, and I thank you all for welcoming me.
This is really wonderful for me personally, but also for our practice that is trying to do something a little unusual.

My name is Anita Ramsetty. I am a mother, wife and a physician. My field of specialty is endocrinology and diabetes. (You can learn more about her medical training here: www.endocrinehelp.com/index.php/Contact-Us). www.Endocrinehelp.com is a site that we started late last year.

The idea had been going on for a few months but we really only went live on the web last September 2007. There are not many medical practices like this in that it actually is a true medical practice backed by a board certified physician to provide specialty care – and it’s all online. The means of communication with patients is through computer by email, by telephone or fax. We are also adding webcam options for patients. This, of course, is unusual because most other practices are in person, so right off the bat we get a few odd looks when we start explaining that our business actually does not involve any face to face doctor contact.

We’re excited about it because we think this is a field where there aren’t many people involved—just yet. But, it’s headed there because technology has already moved past it; Moved well past it, actually. We’re hoping to fill a bit of a void for individuals who want or need some medical assistance with diabetes management or other endocrine-type problems but are unable to get to frequent doctor visits where they need to be seen in person.

As a clinician I strive to have conversations with my patients about diabetes instead of one-directional lectures. Even though I trained and practiced in traditional academic medical settings, I strongly feel that technology today can offer new ways in which medical care is being delivered.

My medical practice at www.endocrinehelp.com may seem a little odd: not seeing your doctor physically. But I think that using our newer technologies will actually allow us all to communicate MORE, and really that is the crux of the matter, isn’t it? Time to talk and discuss important things, teaching and understanding, that is when the pieces fall into place and the light bulb goes on.

I think the people this will be of particular assistance to are those that are interested in very frequent interaction. We do guaranty response and a conversation with you within 6 hours after you’ve contacted us by email, fax or telephone. For all of us who’ve called in for a doctor visit, including myself, that is actually a short wait. So that would be a major improvement over the general way usual clinics function.

But in addition, we’re hoping to fill a very definite void that we know of through the medical literature that exists for patients who are in rural areas and don’t have access to specialists. As it goes, physicians tend to cluster. And we tend to cluster in areas more urban. As a result, there is a lack of specialists in many rural areas. So we’re hoping to be of use to people who just can’t make it those long distances to a specialist that is in a major medical center.

N: We’re looking forward to your expert contributions as a Diabetes Expert Blogger. We’re also looking forward to incorporating some of the articles that you’ve already written so that they can be indexed and searchable through us for our community at large.

A: I am very, very excited about that!

N: Paint us a picture of where you see the internet technology taking your practice. What more can you share about it?

A: We described this time as ‘just ahead of the curve’. We started calling it that and then a lot of individuals we talked to started saying the same thing. I think this is going to eventually be a very, very big part of not only diabetes care, but for other chronic illnesses throughout the country.
California is often leading the way in terms of all kinds of innovative programs. We were excited to learn about a month ago that California passed a pilot program to start a telemedicine program in that state and will ideally be completed by the end of next year. Some of the basis for starting some of the telemedicine programs throughout that state will be centered on diabetes management.

So, it’s coming! That’s the technology that we have now. Technology changes practically every week. Between the internet now being able to bring you not just the information but now an actual specialist to help you by telephone, by internet, by podcast or webcam, you’ll be able to get so much more information.

We have all sorts of new technologies coming by cell phone that are live stream data technologies. I think that they will become a larger part of diabetes care than even we can see at this time. SugarStats was already ahead of its time when it started. And, I think that this medical practice that we’ve started is a little ahead of its time as well.
But, I think, by the end of this year and going into next year, it won’t be such a novelty anymore. People will say, ‘Yeah, this should have happened a while ago. This is really a great resource.” I think it will open up new doors for a lot of people and make care a lot more accessible and user friendly.

N: As a board certified endocrinologist, are you able to treat any diabetic? Our community is world wide.

A: I am board certified in endocrinology and diabetes as well as general internal medicine. Currently, much of my licensure is within South Carolina, Florida and California of the United States of America.

That being said, I can take general questions from all over the United States—and from all over the world—and give general advice.

But in terms of my medical practice, in person at the medical university or online at EndocrineHelp.com, if I get involved in terms of treating you, making specific suggestions about your medications, or being in contact with your primary care physician, I would only be able to accept patients from Florida, South Carolina or California right now. But, stay tuned because we will be expanding our license to several other states within the United States within the next year.

N: You just briefly referred to your background before EndocrineHelp.com. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?

A: Sure. I’m a native of the Caribbean, of St. Vincent and spent most of life there until college.

Then I moved to the United States and went to medical school at the University of Florida and then did my Internal Medicine training there. After which, my husband and I spent a blissful 3+ years in Palo Alto California when I did my fellowship at Stanford University and we really enjoyed our time out there.

Between my fellowship there and now, there are a few years where I became a mom and started my clinical practice at the Medical University of South Carolina, and I’m trying to juggle all of that. A lot of “in between” comes with family involvement: I had a lot of family members who’ve had Type 2 Diabetes, I myself had mild gestational diabetes.
And now, here we are.

N: Help our community envision what you would want, how you would want them to ‘show up’ as a patient for you.

A: The easiest way, because it’s a website, is to go to www.endocrinehelp.com That’s the easiest way because then you can access us by email and we can contact you pretty quickly.

We also are accessible by phone so if individuals prefer they can call us at (843) 745-4227. They can call or shoot us an email saying ‘we’re curious or we definitely want to become involved with your practice” and we’ll go from there.

One of the things that I think also set us a little bit apart from a number of services online is that, even though our communication style is a little non-traditional, we do try to maintain very high standards of care for patients. Given that we’re doing a non-traditional approach, to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks we encourage people very highly to get their own primary care providers involved so we can get information directly from them and the entire loop of communication is closed.

That also makes it easier for the consultation because it would be just like going to another office visit where you sign over a release of information and ask your doctor to send the information over to us regarding your lab work or radiology study if that’s appropriate and it literally takes off from there. The only thing that’s missing is that you won’t be seated in my office.

You’ll be wherever is most comfortable for you –by your computer or on your telephone –and we can discuss all of your health care that way. This is particularly good for diabetes where really and truly, a lot of the intense management has to do with reviewing blood glucose numbers and symptoms and the way an individual is managing it on a day to day way in their lives, not necessarily based on what I hear in your heart exam that day.

So I think it’s particularly good for that situation.
——————————-

Dr. Anita Ramsetty
Senior endocrinologist, SugarStats Medical Advisory Team
Medical Director, EndocrineHelp.com

To reach Dr. Ramsetty you can email her at endodocs@endocrinehelp.com or go to EndocrineHelp.com.

For more information about this blog or if you’re an expert in diabetes, have personal experiences or a story to tell about diabetes, please contact Nedrra Lanakila at nlanakila@sugarstats.com

Related Posts:

• Welcoming our Newest Endocrinologist Blogger: Dr. Anita Ramsetty
• Interview with Dr. Anita Ramsetty, Endocrinologist - Part3
• Interview with Dr. Anita Ramsetty, Endocrinologist - Part2
• TechAddress Interviews SugarStats
• “Sweet” conversations
• SugarStats.com Interview on Episode 34 of the DiabetesPowerShow.com Podcast

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 4:59 pm and is filed under Diabetes Tips, Health Interview, Treatment.
Tags: Diabetes Blog, Diabetes Interview, Diabetes Specialist, Diabetic Interview, Diabetic Tips, EndocrineHelp.com, Endocrinologist.
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