Consult a board-certified internal medicine doctor online for complex, chronic, or unexplained health concerns. Our U.S.-based specialists review your medical history, laboratory results, imaging, medications, and previous diagnoses, then provide a live video consultation and written specialist opinion
Internal Medicine
Jerome Ecker
Duke University School of Medicine
Internal Medicine
Internal MedicineConsult a board-certified internal medicine doctor online for complex, chronic, or unexplained health concerns. Our U.S.-based specialists review your medical history, laboratory results, imaging, medications, and previous diagnoses, then provide a live video consultation and written specialist opinion. The service is designed for expert consultation and second opinions and does not include medication prescribing.
An internal medicine doctor, also called an internist or internal medicine physician, is a physician trained in the comprehensive care of adults. Internal medicine is particularly valuable when a medical problem is complex, involves more than one condition or organ system, or requires several parts of a patient's history to be considered together.
The American College of Physicians describes internal medicine as a discipline centered on comprehensive adult care and the evaluation and management of illness in the whole patient. American College of Physicians: Internal Medicine
For an online second opinion, the internist's role is not to replace every subspecialist. Instead, the physician can review the overall clinical picture, help clarify unresolved questions, and identify issues that may warrant further evaluation by a treating physician or a more focused specialist.
An internal medicine consultation can be useful when the main question is broader than a single diagnosis. The physician may review how symptoms, chronic conditions, medications, laboratory abnormalities, imaging, and previous recommendations fit together.
The purpose is to provide a comprehensive internal medicine perspective without assuming that every symptom belongs to one diagnosis.
You may consider an internist consultation when your medical situation would benefit from a broad review rather than evaluation of only one isolated symptom or test result.
Adults with several medical conditions often receive care from more than one physician. A new symptom, abnormal test result, or treatment decision may therefore need to be interpreted in the context of multiple diagnoses rather than as a separate problem.
An online internal medicine doctor can review the overall history, including chronic conditions, previous hospitalizations, medications, specialist recommendations, and relevant diagnostic testing. This broader review may help identify where medical issues overlap, where information is incomplete, and which questions should be prioritized with the patient's treating team.
When a condition clearly falls within a subspecialty such as cardiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, nephrology, or infectious disease, focused specialist input may still be necessary. Internal medicine can be especially useful when the principal challenge is understanding the whole clinical picture.
Persistent symptoms can be difficult to interpret when initial testing has not established a clear explanation or when symptoms involve several body systems. Examples may include ongoing fatigue, recurrent dizziness, unexplained changes in weight, persistent constitutional symptoms, or combinations of complaints that have not yet been unified by a diagnosis.
An internal medicine specialist can review the symptom timeline, previous evaluations, laboratory and imaging findings, medications, medical history, and diagnoses already considered. The objective is not to promise a new diagnosis from a virtual consultation, but to provide another clinical perspective on the available evidence and identify questions that may require further evaluation.
Internal medicine physicians routinely work with adults who have chronic health conditions, particularly when several conditions coexist or when a patient's medical needs change over time.
For a second opinion, the internist may review conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, lipid disorders, thyroid disease, chronic respiratory problems, or other established diagnoses as part of the patient's broader medical history. The page is not intended to replace the focused expertise of a subspecialist when a complex organ-specific condition requires dedicated specialty care.
A comprehensive review may be helpful when a patient wants another perspective on how multiple diagnoses, medications, test results, and recommendations relate to one another.
Internal medicine decisions often depend on patterns across several sources of information rather than a single abnormal value. A laboratory result may have different significance depending on symptoms, medications, previous results, underlying conditions, and other findings.
Depending on your clinical question, an online internal medicine consultation may include review of:
Where possible, include earlier results as well as the most recent testing. Trends over time can provide important context that is not apparent from one isolated result.
An internal medicine second opinion provides an independent review of a medical concern by another physician trained in adult medicine. It can be particularly useful when the clinical question spans several conditions or when the patient wants the overall medical record reviewed before making an important decision.
Consider requesting a second opinion if:
A second opinion does not automatically mean that the original diagnosis or recommendation is incorrect. Its purpose is to provide additional clinical perspective that can be discussed with the physicians responsible for your ongoing care.
OurExpertDoc provides specialist consultation and second-opinion services. Medication prescriptions are not provided through this service.
A virtual internal medicine consultation is most useful when the clinical question can be evaluated through medical history, existing records, test results, and specialist discussion. It can provide an independent review of an established diagnosis, unexplained symptoms, chronic conditions, laboratory or imaging findings, and recommendations made by other clinicians.
It cannot replace care that requires a physical examination, new diagnostic testing, procedures, emergency assessment, hospitalization, or ongoing medication management. The internist may recommend additional evaluation that should be arranged through your local treating physician or an appropriate subspecialist.
Board certification provides an additional credential patients can consider when selecting an internal medicine physician. The American Board of Internal Medicine requires physicians seeking certification in internal medicine to complete specified medical education and graduate training requirements, demonstrate clinical competence, meet licensure requirements, and pass the Internal Medicine Certification Examination.
American Board of Internal Medicine: Becoming Certified in Internal Medicine
Physician credentials displayed by OurExpertDoc should be verified and presented accurately for each individual specialist.
OurExpertDoc gives patients worldwide access to U.S.-based internal medicine physicians for non-emergency specialist consultations and second opinions. This may be useful when local specialist access is limited, when a patient wants an additional U.S.-based medical perspective, or when extensive records can be reviewed remotely before further decisions are made.
An internal medicine doctor is a physician trained in the comprehensive care of adults. Internists evaluate a broad range of adult medical concerns and are particularly useful when several conditions, symptoms, medications, or test results need to be considered together.
Yes. "Internist" is a common term for a physician trained in internal medicine. It should not be confused with "intern," which refers to a physician at a particular stage of postgraduate training.
Yes. Through OurExpertDoc, patients can consult a U.S.-based internal medicine physician for medical-record review, a live video consultation, and a written specialist opinion.
An internal medicine consultation may be useful when you have multiple health conditions, persistent or unexplained symptoms, complex medical records, abnormal test results, conflicting recommendations, or a diagnosis or management plan that you would like reviewed.
Yes. One of the strengths of internal medicine is the ability to consider several adult medical conditions together. A second opinion can review how diagnoses, medications, test results, and recommendations may interact within the broader clinical picture.
Yes. An internist can review the symptom history, previous evaluations, laboratory and imaging results, medications, and diagnoses already considered. A virtual consultation cannot guarantee a diagnosis and may identify the need for further in-person testing or subspecialty evaluation.
Yes. Existing laboratory results, imaging reports, hospital records, specialist notes, medication lists, and other relevant records can be reviewed as part of an online internal medicine consultation.
Yes. An online internal medicine second opinion can provide another physician's perspective on an established diagnosis, persistent symptoms, multiple medical conditions, test results, or recommendations made by another clinician.
The OurExpertDoc consultation fee is $350. The service includes specialist case review, a live video consultation, and a written specialist opinion.
Get an experienced internal medicine physician's perspective on complex or multiple medical conditions, persistent symptoms, abnormal test results, an uncertain diagnosis, or recommendations already provided by another clinician.
OurExpertDoc provides patients worldwide with access to U.S.-based internal medicine doctors who review relevant medical records, discuss the case during a live video consultation, and provide a written specialist opinion for $350.
The service is designed for non-emergency specialist consultation and second opinions, giving you additional clinical insight to discuss with the physicians responsible for your ongoing care.
Medically reviewed by: Kamran Mahmood, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center
Last medically reviewed: August 2, 2026
