Life in a Primary Care Practice during the COVID-19 Pandemic – Week 5

Follow our series highlighting the celebrations and struggles of a small, independent primary care clinic, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Follow along with the Practice Administrator and add your comments as they share good news, top priorities and needs!

Status on May 14, 2020

Good News (Accomplishments) 
Between in person visits and telemedicine we are at 75% of our usual visits. Three fourths of the visits are in person, the balance is telemedicine. No significant change in the number of audio only visits, but it’s great to have that flexibility for those patients who need that option.

After lively discussion about the future of telehealth services at our clinic, we achieved consensus on a vision for telemedicine. This depends on some permanent policy changes, but we are hopeful they will be a reality soon.

Had our kickoff meeting for the Innovation Support Project (ISP).  It’s nice to be getting back to normal and working on a new project.

Team Care (Self-Care/Support)
Yesterday, we closed the office a little early and hosted a Team Appreciation “Happy Hour”. We provided snacks and sweets for everyone to enjoy. It was our way showing our appreciation of their flexibility, dedication and commitment, especially during these difficult times. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed spending a little special time together. 

Top Priority
Continue patient outreach to close gaps in care and get our schedule back to normal.

Complete a detailed cost/benefit analysis for telemedicine. Currently, we are using a complimentary platform available from our ACO. This benefit ends soon. We need to investigate our options and select what makes the best sense for us.  

What we need
Permanent changes to policies regulating telemedicine; eliminating the requirement that the patient location (originating site) must be a physician’s office, allowing patients to be located in any setting during the visit, including home and not just rural areas. We also need for reimbursement to remain at or similar to current levels. 

Stay tuned for our next update!

Blog Series:

Week 1: https://www.healthteamworks.org/news/life-primary-care-practice-during-covid-19-pandemic-week-1
Week 2 and 3: https://www.healthteamworks.org/news/life-primary-care-practice-during-covid-19-pandemic-%E2%80%93-week-2-and-3
Week 4: https://www.healthteamworks.org/news/life-primary-care-practice-during-covid-19-pandemic-%E2%80%93-week-4
Week 5: https://www.healthteamworks.org/news/life-primary-care-practice-during-covid-19-pandemic-%E2%80%93-week-5
Week 6: https://www.healthteamworks.org/news/life-primary-care-practice-during-covid-19-pandemic-%E2%80%93-week-6