A Model for Rapid Transition to Virtual Care, VA Connecticut Primary Care Response to COVID-19.

Autor: Spelman JF; VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, CT, USA. Juliette.fromm@yale.edu.; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. Juliette.fromm@yale.edu., Brienza R; VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, CT, USA.; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA., Walsh RF; Primary Care Service Line, VA New England Health Care System, Bedford, MA, USA., Drost P; VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, CT, USA.; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA., Schwartz AR; VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, CT, USA.; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA., Kravetz JD; VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, CT, USA.; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA., Pitkin P; Clinical Contact Center, VA New England Health Care System, Bedford, MA, USA., Ruser C; VA Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, CT, USA.; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of general internal medicine [J Gen Intern Med] 2020 Oct; Vol. 35 (10), pp. 3073-3076. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Jul 23.
DOI: 10.1007/s11606-020-06041-4
Abstrakt: Introduction: Traditionally, health care delivery in the USA has been structured around in-person visits. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a shift to virtual care models in order to reduce patient exposure to high-risk environments and to preserve valuable health care resources. This report describes one large primary care system's model for rapid transition to virtual care (RTVC).
Setting and Participants: A RTVC model was implemented at the VA Connecticut Health Care System (VACHS), which delivers care to over 58,000 veterans.
Program Description: The RTVC model included immediate virtual care conversion, telework expansion, implementation of virtual respiratory urgent care clinics, and development of standardized note templates.
Program Evaluation: Outcomes include the rates of primary encounter types, staff teleworking, and utilization of virtual respiratory urgent care clinics. In under 2 weeks, most encounters were transitioned from in-person to virtual care, enabling telework for over half of the medical staff. The majority of virtual visits were telephone encounters, though rates of video visits increased nearly 18-fold.
Discussion: The RTVC model demonstrates expeditious and sustained transition to virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our experiences help inform institutions still reliant on traditional in-person visits, and future pandemic response.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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