How coronavirus has radically changed patient care
The COVID-19 outbreak presents serious challenges for all of us. At the onset, health care organizations across the nation were faced with the most difficult challenge of all: How would we provide care to people with coronavirus symptoms and continue to meet the needs of all our patients, while preventing the spread of infection, all while keeping patients and health care professionals safe?
At Lehigh Valley Health Network we acted fast and began leveraging our technology platforms to give patients the safe, quality care they need. In a matter of days, LVHN transformed itself into a digital health network.
To help prevent the spread of infection and keep our patients and health care profes- sionals safe, LVHN reduced face-to-face health care encounters. To continue to meet patients’ everyday medical needs, we enhanced our technology. Patients now can be seen, virtually, by a health care provider who has full access to their medical records.
LVHN Video Visits, for example, allow patients to safely access care from anywhere in Pennsylvania using a cellphone or smart device. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, about 10 video visits were performed daily at LVHN. We rapidly introduced free COVID-19 video visits as soon as the pandemic hit our region. Within just a few weeks, we have provided more than 3,100 of these free screening video visits.
LVHN is providing more than 1,200 video visits each day, ensuring people get care from an LVHN provider who practices in our community. Based on patient and provider satisfaction, we expect these numbers to grow quickly.
E-Visits are another digital tool we use to deliver safe and free care to people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever, cough or shortness of breath. It’s a simple online questionnaire that asks about a patient’s symptoms and possible risk for exposure. The information is then reviewed by a health care provider, who offers guidance about the need to be tested for COVID-19 or other care recommendations.
And don’t forget the trusty telephone. Lots of our patients still like to talk to their doctor on the phone. Phone visits are being used to connect providers and patients in our physician practices and in specialty care areas when verbal communication is what’s most important. These phone visits happen thousands of times daily at LVHN.
During the first week of April, 66% of the more than 36,000 patient encounters at LVHN were performed using these care-delivery methods.
Our drive to expand and evolve our digital health network continues. We have grown our video visit capabilities to care for patients in need of rehabilitation services. This digital service gives patients the opportunity to seek medical advice on techniques to manage injuryrelated symptoms while at home, or seek guidance on their home exercise program.
Video visits also are being used to care for people with medical conditions that would significantly challenge them if they contracted the COVID-19 infection, helping them stay home and safe. Digital encounters are now provided in 22 specialties at LVHN, and the list is growing.
While technology is being used to deliver care, it’s also being used to connect patients with their loved ones during a time when hospital visitation policies have been revised to help prevent the spread of infection. Hospitalized patients are given tablets and iPads to see family and friends using FaceTime, Skype or other video conferencing apps.
These are unprecedented times, and this is an unprecedented challenge. We appreciate that our patients are trying something new like a video visit, and we expect these visits will become standard practice for many types of health care encounters, long after the pandemic fades.
Together, we will stay connected to face this challenge head on and win.
Dr. Brian Nester is president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Health Network.