Virtual Visits & COVID-19: How top health systems are digitalizing their response to the pandemic


Wednesday, May 13th, 2020 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm CST

During this unprecedented time, our healthcare industry has been put under enormous stress. In their effort to flatten the curve of COVID-19, many health systems have leveraged virtual visits to triage and care for those with the virus, as well as to deliver routine care while promoting social distancing.

During this webinar, you’ll hear from three leading health systems on how they integrated telehealth into their care delivery models to shift the way they care for patients during the pandemic: Indiana University Health, the largest healthcare system in Indiana; UAB Medicine, a renowned academic health center located in Birmingham, Ala.; and WellStar Health System, a non-profit system providing comprehensive care in metro Atlanta.

Join the webinar to learn how IU Health, UAB Medicine and WellStar:

  • Integrated telehealth into their COVID-19 response, for patients and the broader community
  • Leverage virtual visits to care for their own essential employees
  • Triage and coordinate testing through telehealth programs
  • Use telemedicine carts to conserve personal protective equipment and limit exposure

 

Presenters:

  • Eric Wallace, MD, Medical Director for Telehealth, UAB Medicine
  • Tina Shah, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Virtual Health, WellStar Health System
  • Ian McDaniel, Executive Director of Virtual Care, Indiana University Health
  • Sally Eckford, AVP, Virtual Health, WellStar Health System

 

*Within 24 hours of Indiana’s first confirmed COVID-19 case, the IU Health Virtual Care team developed and operationalized a free Coronavirus virtual screening clinic, which has conducted more than 30,000 free screenings. When IU Health called for all primary and specialty visits to be conducted virtually or rescheduled, the virtual team quickly added more than 1,000 providers to its telehealth platform, leading to more than 13,000 virtual visits with patients.

*Within five weeks of the national emergency declaration, UAB Medicine converted 60% of its ambulatory visits to telehealth, with that number rising steadily week after week and encompassing every subspecialty. UAB also deployed tablets to patient rooms to care for patients while also reducing the use of PPE, and has stood up virtual inpatient infectious disease consults for external hospitals.