Arthritis Associates of Erie

Arthritis Associates of Erie - correct phone number is 814.868.8531. (Google was requested to correct this over a month ago.. )

There has been some information disseminated about the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in patients with coronavirus infection. This would include medications commonly used for fever and myalgias such as ibuprofen (Motrin), and naproxen (Aleve) as well as prescription NSAIDs. While this information is anecdotal (based on observations only) rather than scientifically proven it is reasonable to use acetaminophen ( Tylenol ) as the drug of choice for fever and myalgias with suspected coronavirus infection. No medication is free of side effects , so adherence to guidelines (package insert) is recommended . More confusing and conflicting information is available online

Office is CLOSED for routine visits. Emergency issues will be attended to on an individual basis. 1. Medication refills - please ask your pharmacist to request ELECTRONICALLY for fastest service. 2. MD's and PA will call patients for 'telemedicine' visits in advance of previously scheduled visits. Insurance allows payment for such 'visits'. Waving co-pay is typical from most insurers.... 3. We are still formulating plans for iv or injection therapies.

For Telemedicine visits -patients with smartphones, please use/download Skype if you have a Droid phone. This will allow physicians with IPhone or Droid phones to contact you .

The office will be closed starting the week of 23 March. This is a very difficult decision for the physicians and staff. It is being done to help prevent a rise in COVID-19 in this area. We debated delaying, but impacting the spread, flattening the curve, is best done early. In the coming days and weeks, the Physicians and the Physician Assistant will be contacting patients for telemedicine visits or regular telephone visits. Telemedicine is our preferred method and can b...e most easily done with a smartphone, either an iPhone with FaceTime or Droid with Skype. We hope to provide continuity of care with continued evaluations and recommendations, reviewing labs, renewing prescriptions, etc. while protecting you and our staff from exposure to the virus. This poses a special issue for our IV therapy and injection patients. In many cases a temporary delay is tolerable. We hope to have COVID testing available when needed to speed a return to normal operations. In any instances where delay would have dire consequences, we do not intend to allow that to occur. There will be limited but continuing nursing and urgent physician in-office care provided.