What if you get sick and it’s not coronavirus? Here are options in Kansas City area
If you get sick right now with something other than the coronavirus, finding care is often no longer as easy as walking into your doctor’s office or the urgent care down the street.
Many medical offices are closed to in-person visits — some ear nose and throat doctors, urologists, sports medicine centers, physical therapists, dermatologists — and that’s just in the University of Kansas Health System, “for the safety of patients, visitors and staff,” its website says.
Hospitals are trying to keep their emergency rooms as empty as possible for COVID-19 patients — though they don’t want you to stay away for severe needs, such as a heart attack or a stroke.
Your urgent care might have cut its hours back, or simply closed.
“Knowing where to go, especially right now, can be difficult and overwhelming,” Kimberly Megow, chief medical officer for HCA Midwest Health, said in a statement.
Kansas City area health care providers are finding creative ways to step up to help patients get care.
An orthopedic practice in Lee’s Summit transformed into an urgent care, so its patients don’t have to go to the ER.
School nurses in Independence have set up wellness clinics to make sure students still get medical attention while schools are closed.
Doctors offices are seeing more patients than ever online.
And patients have new tools to assess their own health. Ever heard of self-triage?
A new look for urgent care
Children’s Mercy’s three urgent cares cut back their hours a few days ago because patients aren’t coming in during the pandemic.
While everyone is social distancing, “we have seen a decline in need,” the hospital’s head of urgent care, Jennifer Johnson, said in a statement. Temporarily, the East, Blue Valley and Northland locations will be open from noon to 6 p.m. seven days a week.
But in Lee’s Summit, a new urgent care has opened in recent days in an unlikely space: Sano Orthopedics.
Orthopedic surgeon Stephanie de Vere and her partners had just moved their busy private practice out of Lee’s Summit Medical Center and into a brand new building on Independence Avenue in early March.
When the pandemic hit, they decided to offer urgent care services from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with a doctor on call after hours.
“We have not had our grand opening yet,” said de Vere. “But we are ramping our practice up toward urgent care so we can keep non-emergent orthopedic problems, which is about 40 percent of the ER visits, out of the ERs and urgent care.”
That way, those providers can be free to care for COVID-19 patients, she said.
“We need to prevent our ER and urgent care staff from being burned out and wasting their PPE (personal protective equipment),” she said. “But we also want the patient not to put themselves at risk of becoming infected while they’re in the ER.”
She said the practice has canceled all non-urgent new patient visits for the time being, and is doing follow-up appointments via telemedicine.
“It’s tough as a business owner to weather this storm,” she said. “You see people being laid off right, left and center. We’ve only had one person furloughed by choice because her kids were home. But it’s … brutal. Surgeons are not taking home a salary until this settles, just so we can keep everybody.”
She said orthopedic urgent cares “have been around for some time, not so much in this area … just around the country there are some practices that are doing a very good job of it.
“The goal is … number one, (for patients to) save money. Because this is a clinic visit, which will be maybe $150, versus an ER visit, which is more than $1,700.
“Somebody who comes in might have a bad ankle sprain, or they’re wondering if something is broken. Somebody with gout could come in and get the testing that they need.”
She said the orthopedic technicians can do casts, splints and slings. “And we can suture stuff,” she said.
She said children under 12 should see a pediatric specialist, and “if it’s a big laceration or cut, that would maybe be an ER visit. And a joint dislocation or a bad fracture that needs to be set in place because you need medicine to knock you out for that to happen and we can’t do that here. But pretty much the rest …”
School nurses’ clinics
In Independence, the school district last week set up wellness clinics in Truman, Van Horn and William Chrisman high schools and Bridger Middle School, where school nurses are treating students with minor, non-COVID-related issues while the schools are closed.
The nurses are there from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“The wellness sites are a way for the school nurse to keep in touch with students … to help with minor medical concerns that families may face, things like injuries, sore throats, rashes, ear infections and other things students would normally visit the school nurse for,” Lori Halsey, the director of health services for the district, says in a video explaining the services.
The district noted how many clinics and doctors aren’t seeing patients for basic concerns.
“So many students utilize the school nurse as their primary care provider, and the Independence school district wants to continue to provide this care for our students during these challenging times,” Halsey said.
She said school nurses are also calling families throughout the district to answer any health questions.
The doctor will see you now, online
From the comfort of home, people are logging on to see their doctor online. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services made it easier for its users when it relaxed its telehealth regulations as communities ordered residents to avoid going out.
Medicare will now pay for office, hospital and other visits done by telehealth, a trend some health care professionals believe will outlast the pandemic.
Primary and specialty care providers in the AdventHealth Medical Group are offering telehealth visits by phone and video. And virtual visits with a medical provider are available 24/7 through the AdventHealth app.
“We always recommend starting with your provider first — they know your health history and can determine if a telehealth visit is an option, or if it’s best that they be seen in the clinic,” Morgan Shandler, communications manager of marketing & strategic engagement for AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, said in a statement.
Noting that all of the health system’s urgent cares and ERs are open to patients, Shandler reminded people to call ahead if they think they have COVID-19 symptoms. “Our doctors are here for you no matter the circumstances, so don’t let fear prevent you from receiving the care you need,” he said.
Self-triage online
If you think you might have the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer bot named “Clara” to help you decide whether you need medical care. The “self-checker” — cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing — was created by the CDC Foundation and Microsoft Azure’s Healthcare Bot service.
The caveat: It “is not intended for the diagnosis or treatment of disease or other conditions, including COVID-19.”
You answer questions about yourself or the person you’re helping to take the survey:
“In the last two weeks have you worked or volunteered in a hospital, ER, clinic, medical office … or taken care of patients as a student or part of your work?”
“Do you have any of the following conditions, including serious heart conditions, pregnancy, cancer, etc.”
It asks if you have symptoms of coronavirus: fever, shortness of breath, a cough.
If your answers reveal you have even just one of the COVID-19 symptoms, Clara will tell you: “Sorry you’re feeling ill.”
Depending on your answers, it will recommend anything from call 911 immediately to “stay home and take care of yourself (and) call your provider if you get worse.”
HCA Midwest’s online health triage, operated through Care Navigator, is also available 24/7.
Answering the questions, based on CDC guidelines, will help you determine whether you need to see a doctor, go to urgent care or head to the ER.
It’s free. But depending on your answers you might be advised to set up a virtual visit with a health care professional. Patients must be at least 6 months old.
If you’re having severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, the health system recommends that you call 911 or go to the emergency room.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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