Southern Tennessee Medical Group Launches Telemedicine Services
April 15, 2020
Southern Tennessee Regional Health System’s owned Southern Tennessee Medical Group announced today that it has added telemedicine to its practices and clinics offerings in its communities at First Choice Health-Tullahoma, Winchester and Huntland, Southern Tennessee Orthopedic & Spine, Southern Tennessee Neurology, Winchester Surgeons, Winchester Pediatrics, Southern Tennessee Primary Care, Southern Tennessee Heart & Vascular, Southern Tennessee Internal & Family Medicine Specialists, Family Physicians of Estill Springs, Mountain Medical Clinic, Monteagle Internal Medicine, Premier Family Health Care, Southern Tennessee Psychiatry, Wellstream Family Medicine and Southern Tennessee Ear Nose and Throat.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s unprecedented expansion of telehealth services.
“We are pleased to offer convenient telemedicine solutions to help connect patients and providers, and ensure the continued delivery of high quality care,” shared Lisa Bradford, STRHS’s Physician Services Director. “As the situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve, telehealth capabilities enable our clinical team to practice social distancing to further reduce the spread of illness while still meeting our patients’ health needs. We look forward to the many ways this new offering will further advance our mission of Making Communities Healthier.”
For patients who meet certain clinical criteria, Southern Tennessee Medical Group physicians are offering two types of telehealth visits: telephonic and televideo. A telephonic visit is simply a patient phone call with a provider, and a televideo visit is a virtual, face-to-face visit with a provider using a video conferencing service. Virtual visits may not be available in all cases and will be evaluated based on a patient’s specific clinical needs.
Patients can request a telehealth visit by calling their provider’s office, just as they would for an in-person visit. The provider will determine if a telehealth visit is appropriate based on the patient’s health condition. If the virtual visit is deemed clinically appropriate, the patient will be given an appointment time and instructions for the best way to connect given the available platforms. Then, instead of coming to the office, he or she would call back at the scheduled time and be “checked in” by a nurse or front desk personnel, and then transferred to the provider for the call or two-way video.
A few restrictions on telephonic visits may apply, including that they cannot be utilized to treat patients for a condition that the patient has been seen for in the previous seven days, and they cannot be used to treat a condition that the patient is already coming in for within the next 24 hours.
Patients who are concerned they may be experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 are encouraged to consider telemedicine appointments to help further reduce the spread of respiratory illness. Leveraging telemedicine also conserves personal protective equipment (PPE) and other clinical resources that are needed when treating a patient with suspected COVID-19 in the clinic or hospital setting.
The Southern Tennessee Medical Group is a group of medical professionals established at different practices throughout southern middle Tennessee. Each practice and provider is proud to be a part of Southern Tennessee Regional Health System. The group has grown significantly in the past several years and continues to expand to meet the healthcare needs of the community and surrounding areas. There are practice locations all over the Tennessee valley to help serve the health care needs of you and your family. To schedule, please call 800-424-DOCS or visit southerntennesseemedicalgroup.com.