Patients are delaying medical care as household accidents increase
FRISCO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2020 / To provide North Texas patients with more access to care during the COVID-19 outbreak, the six Dallas Fort Worth locations of Legacy ER & Urgent Care now offer a telehealth solution that allows patients to meet virtually with providers from the safety of their homes. The Legacy ER & Urgent Care Telehealth option is available seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is billed the same way as an urgent-care visit.
Currently, telehealth is an in-network option with Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and United Health Care. Each insurance provider has specific rules regarding telehealth visits, and patients' urgent-care benefits apply. Legacy ER & Urgent Care is working to add more payors and will update its website, as agreements are made.
"We recognized that many patients may be reluctant to visit healthcare facilities because of COVID-19. Without having to physically go to a facility, telehealth provides low-acuity patients the opportunity to get one-on-one face time with a certified and licensed medical clinician," said Jay Woody, MD, FACEP, chief medical officer of Intuitive Health and a co-founder of Legacy ER & Urgent Care. "Our medical clinicians are able to provide medical advice, diagnose certain health-related conditions and discuss possible issues with patients. Our telehealth medical clinicians can also write orders for certain prescriptions. This is all done vertically without ever coming into direct contact with the patient, providing some peace of mind."
Telehealth at Legacy ER & Urgent Care is meant for non-emergency, or low-acuity, patients. Those experiencing true emergencies should always call 911. Telemedicine appointments are booked by time from the LegacyER.com/Telehealth website. Typically, patients will receive a virtual consultation from a provider. After an appointment request is made, a staff member will reach out to the patient and review symptoms, ensure that the patient is equipped with Zoom video conferencing capability and supply the patient with a meeting ID and password. At the patient's appointment time, both the healthcare provider and patient log onto Zoom, and the video conference begins.
"While telehealth serves a healthcare need, it should not be considered complete care. The physical nature of an injury or treatment for many sicknesses may require specialized equipment and testing which must be done in one of our facilities," Woody said. "So, while telehealth can help many patients, there are still going to be cases where we may direct them to seek additional care at one of our locations."
Legacy ER & Urgent Care also rolled out a free Nurse Hotline. Patients are encouraged to use it for general questions about care, such as "should I come in?" When patients call the hotline, they speak directly with a registered nurse. The Nurse Hotline is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week at 972-678-4760.
There has been an increase in household accidents as people shelter in place at home — just as there typically are during holidays when families are all together. Legacy ER & Urgent Care is currently seeing injuries from trips and falls, sprains, cuts, burns and broken bones. Many of the accidents involve rambunctious children. While we encourage everyone to stay at home, we need people to know that if they are sick or hurt, they should NOT delay seeing a doctor.
Recently, Legacy ER & Urgent Care has seen an alarming trend of treating patients who have been hurt or sick with non-COVID-19 for a period of time – delaying their medical care. For many conditions, postponing treatment exponentially compounds the issue. Many patients have reported that they did not seek treatment because they were under the impression that all healthcare facilities were full and overburdened. Legacy ER & Urgent Care's facilities are fully staffed and open and none are full or overburdened.
Safety is the number one priority for Legacy ER & Urgent Care. The teams are experienced, trained and well equipped to provide safe and reliable care during the developing COVID-19 outbreak. The Legacy ER & Urgent Care team of healthcare professionals is taking all of the necessary precautions:
Following the most rigorous CDC/Health Department sanitation guidelines for cleaning times and types of cleaning materials used
- Using drive-up capabilities and/or additional entrances and exits to allow high-risk patients to avoid common areas
- Continuous disinfection wipe downs of all high-touch areas like registration, patient chairs, equipment, etc.
- Rapid identification of patients exhibiting any cold or flu symptoms and requiring them to wear a protective mask
- Advising all personnel with any cold or flu symptoms to stay home
"While we recommend everyone to stay at home, we need people to know that if they are sick or hurt, they should NOT delay seeing a doctor," Woody said.
To schedule a telehealth appointment at Legacy ER & Urgent Care please visit LegacyER.com/Visit-Options. To access the Nurse hotline, please call 972-678-4760.
Since 2008, Legacy ER & Urgent Care has served families in the communities of Allen, Coppell, East Frisco, West Frisco, McKinney and North Richland Hills, as well as surrounding cities.
ABOUT LEGACY ER & URGENT CARE
Legacy ER & Urgent Care is a combined emergency room and urgent-care center under one roof. The patient-centered retail-care model is built on a proven business system focused on concierge-level customer service and transparency. Each location has on-site lab equipment, a radiology suite with X-ray and multislice CT scanners and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every patient is seen by an ER-trained physician. Patients only pay for the care they need, as objective criteria determine whether emergency or urgent care is required. This proven model establishes a cost-effective, personal and time-efficient way to deliver high-quality medical services at the appropriate cost, garnering long-term patient loyalty. Legacy ER & Urgent Care currently operates six locations in North Texas, in Allen, Coppell, East Frisco, West Frisco, McKinney and North Richland Hills. Legacy ER & Urgent Care is an Intuitive Health company. For more information, visit LegacyER.com, follow the company's blog, or follow them on social media at Facebook and Instagram.
Media Contact:
Jo Trizila, TrizCom PR
Office: 972-247-1369
Cell/Text: 214-232-0078
Email: Jo@TrizCom.com
SOURCE: Legacy ER & Urgent Care
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https://www.accesswire.com/585411/Legacy-ER-Urgent-Care-Adds-Telehealth-and-Nurse-Hotline-in-Response-to-COVID-19
