UMMC issued the following statement.
HEALTH CARE PROVIDER VISIT JUST CLICKS AWAY WITH UMMC TELEHEALTH BENEFIT
Mississippi
state employees and their families who take advantage of the state
insurance plan can receive same-day minor medical care, at home or work,
through a new telehealth benefit offered by the University of
Mississippi Medical Center.
UMMC 2 You
allows them to securely visit with a Medical Center family nurse
practitioner over the Internet using their desktop or laptop computer,
tablet or smartphone. It’s an actual clinic visit using the patient’s
webcam, and it’s now covered by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Mississippi-administered state and school employees’ health insurance
plan. UMMC employees are among those eligible.
“This
is so beneficial to people in our state because of the need for access
to affordable care in a timely manner,” said Tearsanee Davis, the Center
for Telehealth’s director of clinical health and advanced practice
operations. “There’s not always a clinic on a corner near you.”
From 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday,
a team of providers that includes family nurse practitioners Kristi
Goodson and Lea Ann Coxwell will see patients for a variety of issues,
such as respiratory and sinus infections, fever, urinary tract
infection, ear infection, joint aches and pains, allergies, bronchitis,
colds and flu, headaches, sore throat, rashes and other minor medical
needs.
UMMC 2 You is not designed to replace a primary care provider, and does not treat patients with serious illness or injury.
“We
don’t do pain management or long-term management of chronic diseases,”
Goodson said. “If you have abdominal or chest pain, breathing issues,
injuries requiring an X-ray or CT scan, or lacerations needing sewing
up, you need to receive immediate hands-on care.
Patients can expect to be seen the same day unless volume is extremely high.
It’s
a tremendous time-saver and convenience for employees who find it
difficult to leave their desks during the workday and who dread an
hours-long wait at a traditional clinic, Davis said. It enables them to
make a visit from the comfort of their home or at their private
workstation if needed.
“What
makes us different also is that we are a Mississippi provider and
business,” Davis said. “We do as much as we can to support community
providers. If patients need a primary care provider, we help them locate
one that is in their own community when appropriate. If a local
provider isn’t available, we assist patients in securing care at UMMC if
they’re agreeable, and we’re also willing to assist with specialty
referrals if they’re needed.”
How UMMC 2 You works: After setting up an account,
a patient logs in and is given a list of providers on duty that day and
a list of appointment openings. Each appointment covers a 15-minute
time slot.
The
patient chooses a provider and an appointment time, then will be asked
to provide insurance information and a brief medical history. Once the
appointment is made, the patient will receive an emailed confirmation.
The
patient logs on when it’s time for the appointment to begin, Goodson
said. They will be given a prompt to choose either a video or voice
call, but UMMC’s program requires them to only select video, she said.
“We
go through their visit just as we would if it was in person,” Goodson
said. “We get more history on their complaint and come up with a
treatment plan. If a medication is required, we will prescribe it and
contact the pharmacy of their choice.”
Any written instructions for treatment, plus a written synopsis of the visit, can be posted in the patient’s UMMC MyChart patient portal if they’ve created one.
Sometimes,
Davis said, the telehealth team picks up on dangerous underlying health
issues, or the need for patients to see a specialist or subspecialist.
“We
recently saw a patient who wanted to be seen for her high blood
pressure,” Davis said. “We found that she had severe hypertension, and
had been to several different providers and placed on several different
medications, but it wasn’t working for her.”
Her
telehealth provider paved the way for an in-office appointment with a
specialist in UMMC’s hypertension clinic, where she received education
on how to keep her blood pressure in check. “Within a few months, she
was doing fine on her medications. Once she got it under control, she
returned to her local primary care provider,” Davis said.
Delivery
of reliable health information, including the need to be seen regularly
by a primary care provider, is a major component of UMMC 2 You, Davis
said. “We’ve noticed that a lot of people using our system weren’t
seeing a provider regularly. They might not be getting wellness visits,
and they might not understand the importance of that,” Davis said.
“This
is another entry into the health care system,” she said. “One of our
major goals is to advise patients on the best use of health care
resources.”
For
state insurance select plan participants, a visit is $10; for base plan
participants, it’s $49 until the deductible is met, and then $10 for
visits after that.
The new program reinforces UMMC’s mission of promoting a healthier Mississippi.
“Early
identification of disease or illness, and the delivery of reliable
health education, along with connecting people to quality health care
providers ... That’s what we’re all about,” Davis said.
For more information on UMMC 2 You, click here.
6 comments:
This is really good!
Wow - no gas, waiting room, etc.
This will help a lot of people if it's promoted properly; also UMMC should think about producing an accompanying technology tutorial so folks can make the most of this with their existing devices.
Dr. Vanderloo in Madison has been doing this for a while and doesn't charge me a fee for the service. But then I never have to wait when I go in the clinic either. Glad state employees can get access kind of like that too.
Look before you leap. How long will it be before this is the only kind of medical care we can get, outside of surgery? A nurse practitioner speaking from a table in the break room. Cool. Not.
See KF's previous reporting. Another piece of misdirection only to force legislatively a requirement for video.
The insurance bidness is already trying to force us to listen to audio tapes on the phone and watch video tapes of nurses if you file a claim for certain procedures. Now this.
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