In California’s wine country, a group of safety-net clinics quickly shifted their operations in response to the pandemic. Members of the Redwood Community Health Coalition rearranged waiting rooms, begin screening all their patients for Covid-19 symptoms, and set up telehealth visits.

“I think people don’t realize how big a change it was for the healthcare system to have to think through every little aspect of what they do,” said Dr. Karen Milman, CEO of the Redwood Community Health Coalition. “Now, everyone who comes into the clinic has to have a phone or a video conversation before they even come to screen them to see if they have symptoms.”

Before the pandemic, many community health centers didn’t have telehealth systems in place. A recent review of federal data by Health Affairs showed that of 1,330 community health centers, 56% of them did not use telehealth at all in 2018. They cited reimbursement and lack of funding for equipment as their biggest obstacles.

Source: medcitynews.com