The FCC https://www.fcc.gov awarded UVA Health https://uvahealth.com $767,139 to expand UVA’s use of telehealth for patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding funds equipment and network upgrades.
During the pandemic, UVA Health expanded their interactive home monitoring program to include many patients with COVID-19 who didn’t require hospitalization or were recently discharged from the hospital as well as patients with chronic illnesses.
UVA has also deployed telemedicine solutions and remote examination tools to patients in partner hospitals, long term care facilities, assisted living centers and skilled nursing facilities. In these locations, UVA clinicians are able to track patients’ vital signs and perform virtual visits enabling care to be provided in place without a transfer to UVA.
UVA Health has also expanded the use of telemedicine tools within the UVA medical center and emergency department to reduce exposure of patients and providers to COVID and at the same time, conserve personal protective equipment.
UVA is also developing a virtual urgent care platform to enable patients with non-emergency medical needs to be seen online without the need to visit the hospital. UVA recently launched a pilot virtual urgent-care program.
“In April and May, we provided more than 46,000 virtual visits using our telehealth platforms,” said Karen Rheuban, MD, Director of the UVA Center for Telehealth. “We are grateful to the FCC for the grant that will enable us to further expand access to virtual care for patients in the Charlottesville area and all across Virginia”.