Illinois Medicine

disparities "We placed our testing sites in three areas with high community transmission rates and dedicated our resources to identifying and treating these patients early, helping prevent long-term sequelae for those testing positive for COVID," Prendergast says. Within two weeks of the state's emergency declaration, UI Health opened its first drive-through testing site at its Mile Square Health Center on the Near West Side. Scott Jones, MHA, chief ambulatory operations officer, along with Binni Hagstrom, RN, administrative nurse, have been leading the testing for patients and the community, which began on March 25. Patients receive an appointment after first calling a triage nurse to determine whether a test is recommended. If so, patients drive through the site and are given a nasal swab test. After initially testing about 15 people a day, the site was testing up to 90 patients a day by the end of 2020. Just blocks from the medical center, the site also provides a seamless testing experience for patients who need preoperative or preprocedure testing, Hagstrom says. As more data surfaced, it showed a surge in the positivity rate in the Latino community. To meet the need, UI Health converted its Pilsen Family Health Center to a COVID-19 evaluation and treatment clinic on March 30. By December, it was testing about 40 patients a day, many with comorbidities and deemed high risk. Those patients automatically receive a provider examination to determine their next step for care. UI Health opened its third site at Mile Square Health Center– South Shore on April 27. For anyone who tests positive, a member of the COVID+ Outreach Project contacts them daily for 14 days to check for any symptoms. Patients are taken off the call list once they become stable or asymptomatic. The project is led by Bhrandon Harris, MD, assistant professor of clinical family medicine, and Shane Borkowsky, MD, associate chief health information officer and associate professor of clinical medicine. The team includes more than 100 volunteer health professions students, 12 clinical faculty, four primary-care residents and 10 care-continuum staff. Records show that since April, more than 3,500 patient outreach calls have supported more than 900 patients, resulting in coordinated follow-up care for nearly 500 of them. Of those, Prendergast says, 20 were identified as having "urgent medical escalations" and needing a visit to the emergency department, rehospitalization or a same-day physician evaluation. "Even though the rehospitalization number of 20 is small, it is significant because some of those people were quite ill and required admission to the intensive care unit," she says. "Without a doubt, many of them would have been on the path to having a poor outcome." According to Prendergast, the check-ins helped slow readmissions from the disease, revealing a decline to 3.4% from 8% (a 57.5% numerical decrease) between April and December. "For the 500 patients requiring follow-up care, the calls provided an effective bridge before their next telehealth physician visit," The first drive-through testing site opened at the Near West Side location of Mile Square Health Center on March 25, 2020, beginning with 15 patients per day and ramping up to 90 by December. " " To voluntarily help wherever needed, in the midst of a pandemic with an infection that no one yet fully understands, is inspiring. Charles E. Ray, MD, PhD professor and head of radiology Illinois Medicine | 21

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