National Medical Group Provides Crucial Support and Resources Through Clinician Deployments, Virtual Health Solutions, PPE Donations and Essential Care to Communities Throughout 2020
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Envision Healthcare, a leading national medical group, continues to answer America’s call for COVID-19 care. The group remains on the frontlines, taking comprehensive actions to care for patients and support its clinicians and healthcare partners while responding to increases in COVID-19 cases nationwide.
“I’m extremely proud of the clinicians and clinical support teammates at Envision,” said Jim Rechtin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Envision Healthcare. “Everyone has worked relentlessly to support one another, our patients and our communities. As we look ahead to next year, Envision will continue to be there for patients when and where they need us most.”
Envision’s 25,000 clinicians have cared for approximately one out of every 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In addition, the medical group has supported communities across the U.S. by:
Deploying Teams of More Than 500 Clinicians to COVID-19 Hot Spots
During the past 10 months, multispecialty teams of more than 500 physicians and advanced practice providers have volunteered to travel to eight states to support communities hit hardest by the pandemic, including:
- New York and New Jersey – Nearly 200 Envision clinicians traveled to support the Northeast’s COVID-19 outbreak during the late spring and summer months.
- Arizona – In the summer, Envision clinicians supported Tucson hospitals, sharing knowledge gained and best practices from the surge in New York.
- Florida – A team of nearly 300 clinicians provided COVID-19 relief in the Orange, Pinellas and Duval counties during the summer.
- Texas – In the fall, more than 80 clinicians elected to support the El Paso and Lubbock communities as they began treating a surge of COVID-19 patients.
- Colorado, Kansas and Kentucky – Clinicians have supported fluctuating demands for COVID-19 care as the virus impacts communities across these states.
Expanding Virtual Health Visits and Providing Community COVID-19 Testing
In some communities, the national medical group quickly stood up drive-thru testing sites and administered testing to first responders and community members. Throughout the country, Envision expanded and accelerated its virtual health capabilities to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and protect patients and clinicians. Teams have been providing care via tele-triage appointments, enabling them to evaluate a patient while observing social distancing in the hospital. Envision’s office-based practices also increased their virtual health offerings to patients to ensure continuity of care during the pandemic. Since March, Envision has provided nearly 250,000 virtual health visits. The expanded use of virtual health is one of many solutions Envision has implemented to advance patient care. The group will continue to offer virtual health options to patients for the duration of the pandemic and into the future.
Providing Essential Care to Non-COVID-19 Patients
AMSURG, a division of Envision Healthcare and national leader in the management of ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), has played a vital role during the COVID-19 crisis. Some centers have distributed critical resources like personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators to areas of greatest need, and others have been prepared to treat COVID-19 patients from crowded nearby hospitals. AMSURG ASCs remain an integral part of the healthcare system, providing essential care that helps patients maintain and improve their health and quality of life. This includes performing colonoscopies to detect and prevent colorectal cancer. AMSURG’s network of more than 250 centers has continued to follow high quality and safety standards and rigid infection control protocols to protect its teams and patients.
Enhancing Its Clinician Wellness Program
Envision is committed to protecting and empowering clinicians so they can focus on what matters most – caring for patients. The group secured more than 6 million items of PPE to share with its frontline clinicians and hospital partners. In addition to making sure clinicians have the necessary resources at the bedside, Envision has focused on helping clinicians navigate the mental and emotional challenges of being on the frontlines during a pandemic. Some of the many resources include free therapy with licensed professionals, peer-to-peer support groups, mandatory debriefs following deployment to a COVID-19 hot spot and more. Envision is also advocating for a regulatory environment that eliminates the stigma of addressing mental health in care providers.
Envision continues to urge the public to mitigate the spread of the virus by taking the necessary steps to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. These include hand washing, maintaining six feet of distance from others, wearing a mask, avoiding large gatherings and staying home when feeling sick.
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About Envision Healthcare Corporation
Envision Healthcare Corporation is a leading national medical group that delivers physician and advanced practice provider services, primarily in the areas of emergency and hospitalist medicine, anesthesiology, radiology/teleradiology, and neonatology to more than 1,800 clinical departments in healthcare facilities in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Post-acute care is delivered through an array of clinical professionals and integrated technologies which, when combined, contribute to efficient and effective population health management strategies. As a market leader in ambulatory surgical care, the medical group owns and operates 255 surgery centers in 34 states and the District of Columbia, with medical specialties ranging from gastroenterology to ophthalmology and orthopedics. In total, the medical group offers a differentiated suite of clinical solutions on a national scale with a local understanding of our communities, creating value for health systems, payers, providers, and patients. For additional information, visit www.envisionhealth.com.