March 21, 2020
On March 19, Chicago-based Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush implemented new policies around patient visits and performing surgeries through mid-April due to the coronavirus outbreak. The time-line is subject to change based upon the nature of the demands on the local healthcare system.
The practice's surgeons are now seeing patients via telemedicine from their homes and shifting to in-person visits at the clinic only when absolutely necessary.
Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush has trained its nearly 100 providers on telehealth with all patients being triaged through telehealth and video consultation. The group sent out educational webinars and power points to its providers within 24 hours of beginning the new policies so all providers were updated on the technology and proper billing and coding information. The transition to telehealth visits is new, but not necessarily unwelcome among the surgeons.
