Telehealth exploded into the public consciousness this year as a way for clinicians and patients to safely connect during the COVID-19 crisis. While telehealth has been part of care delivery at Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH) for more than a decade, it transitioned almost overnight from an offering most often focused on serving patients in rural areas to a way for any patient to get the care they need virtually whether in a hospital, outpatient facility, or from the comfort and safety of their own home.
Telehealth growth was fueled by changes in regulation and reimbursement during the public health emergency enabling providers to see new and established patients at home across all payer types. To put this growth into perspective, the large PSJH system averaged a few thousand video visits per month in January and February 2020. As COVID transmission spread and lockdowns began, that number climbed to over 15,000 video visits in March to a height of more than 150,000 video visits in May. As of the end of October 2020, PSJH has conducted more than 1.2 million video visits since the beginning of January, steadily accounting for 20%-25% of total visit volume.
Going virtual with gastroenterology
PSJH gastroenterology providers have been a part of this wave, conducting more than 12,000 video visits so far this year (as documented in our Epic EMR), which has been an entirely new method of care delivery for most of these clinicians. We also have many affiliated, private practice gastroenterology providers who practice in our facilities and transitioned quickly to video for outpatient care. Pre- and postprocedure follow-up visits were some of the most common visit types that went virtual, along with new patient visits to establish care and existing patient visits to check in on the status of a health condition, medication, or other concern. Complementary services for gastroenterology patients were transitioned to video over the past 8 months as well. Care management, nutrition services, online support groups, bariatric care information sessions, behavioral health, and more are now available for patients to access virtually.
