Covid19. United States. Inside look at telehealth in the medical clinic

Dr. Maurice Lee and his team continue care for uninsured patients during coronavirus outbreak

At St. Vincent de Paul’s Virginia G. Piper Medical and Dental Clinic, Dr. Maurice Lee, the chief medical officer of the charity clinic, begins a follow up medical appointment. He asks his routine questions: How are you feeling? Are you taking your medications? Are you having any pain? It’s the same level of care and personal medical attention he usually offers, except today he’s doing so via video call technology from his clinic office computer.

“[…] you really don’t know that there’s that big of a difference between the in-person visit and what we’re using as video chat,” said Dr. Lee.  

Since SVdP launched its COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) response, the medical clinic shifted entirely to telehealth so that its patients wouldn’t go without care in the middle of a pandemic.

Telehealth allows the medical staff to still offer centralized care with access to the clinic lab and resources. Because of the medical clinic’s telehealth model, patients continue to have access to the care they need—whether that’s getting a prescription filled or helping get their diabetes controlled. 

Most importantly, whether it’s COVID-19 care or not, the clinic remains open, and Dr. Lee can’t imagine it any other way. 

 Source: https://www.stvincentdepaul.net/svdp-blog/telehealth