Staying Connected In The COVID-19 Pandemic: Telehealth At The Largest Safety-Net System In The United States.
Health Aff (Millwood)
; 39(8): 1437-1442, 2020 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-594919
ABSTRACT
New York City Health + Hospitals is the largest safety-net health care delivery system in the United States. Before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, NYC Health + Hospitals served more than one million patients annually, including the most vulnerable New Yorkers, while billing fewer than five hundred telehealth visits monthly. Once the pandemic struck, we established a strategy to allow us to continue to serve our existing patients while treating the surge of new patients. Starting in March 2020, we were able to transform the system using virtual care platforms through which we conducted almost eighty-three thousand billable televisits in one month, as well as more than thirty thousand behavioral health encounters via telephone and video. Telehealth also enabled us to support patient-family communication, postdischarge follow-up, and palliative care for patients with COVID-19. Expanded Medicaid coverage and insurance reimbursement for telehealth played a pivotal role in this transformation. As we move to a new blend of virtual and in-person care, it is vital that the major regulatory and insurance changes undergirding our COVID-19 telehealth response be sustained to protect access for our most vulnerable patients.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Communicable Disease Control
/
Telemedicine
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Delivery of Health Care
/
Pandemics
/
Safety-net Providers
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Health Aff (Millwood)
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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