Augusta University Health has launched a rebranding of their AU Health ExpressCare and expanding its availability via a new downloadable app for any device or computer.
The program is now known as AU Health Virtual Care and allows patients to get access to a provider who can order prescriptions or suggest treatments. A health care coordinator is also available to follow up as needed, according to Lauren Williams, director of population health.
Users can create a free account that will even allow them to schedule their own appointment times and days.
“The virtual on demand program is 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and it’s 365 days a year,” says the Director of Population Health Analytics Lauren Williams Hopkins. “You can log into the app at any point during the day. Patients can self-schedule through the app.”
Video visits will cost $49.95, and users can use their insurance with the app.
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AU Health partnered with Amwell, formerly known as American Well, to produce an online virtual care app for their patients. An official agreement was signed in 2019, though the project started in 2018, according to Hopkins.
ExpressCare saw an increase in patient numbers when the coronavirus reached the CSRA, and the program adapted to provide virtual screenings for the virus. Some 25,000 people used the between March 2020 and June 2020 says Hopkins.
“This virtual care program is becoming its own service line, so while we have this app or this website patients go to, we also have other telemedicine services that we offer here at AU Health such as ER, critical care, stroke and outpatient services such as Sickle Cell, pediatric pulmonology and pediatric nephrology,” says Hopkins.
Hopkins added, “So, we feel like we should be investing in success of an ecosystem in a full complete telemedicine virtual care operations team.”
Haley Knight is a contributor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at haley.knight@TheAugustaPRESS.com
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