Vim & Vigor - Spring 2021 - 5

BRIGHT
LIGHT

IN A

PANDEMIC
Telehealth proves vital
in the midst of COVID-19
BY KELLY CASEY

PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES (TOP) AND KAY TAYLOR, UVA HEALTH

T

he sacred connection between
patient and doctor-for Karen
Rheuban, MD, fostering this
relationship has been her life's work.
Decades ago, she began working
to overcome one of the
main challenges that kept
patients from accessing
expert care: long distance.
She realized she could use
then-emerging videoconKaren Rheuban,
ferencing technology to
MD, UVA Health
remotely link people from
pediatric
the corners of Virginia with
cardiologist
UVA Health experts at the
Commonwealth's core. This
was the beginning of telehealth and the start, 25 years ago,
of the UVA Center for Telehealth.
Early last year, a new barrier to
the doctor-patient relationship
arose almost overnight: an easily
spreading and deadly virus that
made going to the doctor's office
a risky endeavor.
Telehealth proved to be key in
maintaining the doctor-patient
relationship in challenging times.
" Telemedicine has been a bright light
of the pandemic, " says Dr. Rheuban,
a UVA pediatric cardiologist, who
continues to serve as director of the
UVA Center for Telehealth, which is
now named in her honor.

Explosive Growth

In a typical year, UVA Health clinicians provide 20,000 telehealth
services. Between March and June
2020, however, UVA Health providers converted more than 45,000
in-clinic appointments to virtual
visits. And last year, UVA Health
providers saw more than 90,000
patients virtually. " Telehealth had
been somewhat of a niche service,
but when COVID-19 hit, we had
to scale rapidly to serve so many of
our patients. It was all hands on deck
for our team, " Dr. Rheuban says.
" We were pushed into action
by the pandemic, " she adds, " and
so we had to develop solutions to
enable our providers to connect
with our patients wherever they
were located. "
UVA providers were able to video
chat with patients using tools such
as Webex and FaceTime.
" Our providers were fantastic, "
Dr. Rheuban says. " This was very
much driven by our institutional
commitment to stay actively connected with our patients. "

Protecting the
Vulnerable

A showcase of the UVA pandemic
response was protecting our elderly
population, most at risk of dying
from COVID-19. Through partnerships forged within 24 hours, UVA
Health geriatric medicine and pulmonary critical care physicians were

From March to June 2020,
UVA Health providers
converted more than

45,000
in-clinic appointments
to virtual visits, and they saw

90,000+
patients virtually
in 2020

able to make virtual rounds inside
nursing homes. With a virtual
stethoscope, a UVA doctor could
remotely listen to the heart and
lungs of someone with COVID-19
and know whether transporting
to the hospital was needed. " Our
partnership with more than a dozen
of the region's nursing homes has
been incredibly successful and
welcome, " Dr. Rheuban says. (UVA
Health physician Laurie ArchbaldPannone, MD, headed up this
effort. Read more at uvahealth.com/
nursing-homes).
Virtual clinic visits will continue.
" We're not going to ever replace
in-person visits, " Dr. Rheuban says.
" But for certain patients, receiving
follow-up care virtually is a major
plus. This is especially true for
families who have children with
medical complexities that make
traveling a challenge. " *
VIM & VIGOR SPRING 2021

5
http://www.uvahealth.com/nursing-homes http://www.uvahealth.com/nursing-homes
Vim & Vigor - Spring 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Spring 2021
