Illinois Medicine

"I will say we've learned a lot since the first surge last spring," he adds. "It's unpredictable who will do better or worse, except we do know that older people, those with underlying conditions and underserved communities—a big part of our patient population—are at very high risk. The bottom line is that inpatients testing positive for COVID must be isolated from other patients." Overall, Ray and Prendergast agree that for the most part, UI Health has been getting it right. "Nonetheless, despite the reality that the novel coronavirus SARS-2 is not yet defeated, the opportunity to reflect on the successful efforts of many, while identifying areas for improvements, prepares us to face this ongoing threat and those yet unseen," Prendergast says. "When we look back at this as an organization, the College, the physicians, nurses and hospital staff all worked well together in a coordinated fashion. The 'all hands on deck' approach efficiently maximized the protection of our patients and staff while minimizing the loss of life." testing UI Health had tested nearly 95,000 people and treated 1,555 patients as of January 29. "Quick, accurate testing is crucial to recommending treatment options and decreasing the disease spread," says Scott Jones, chief ambulatory operations officer. " " Once the pandemic is over, I think we will continue to schedule more telehealth visits. I see this as a long-term change in the way we deliver care. Jonathan Radosta, MD chief ambulatory medical officer To begin the process, the call center staff identifies a patient's reason for a visit and determines whether it needs to be done in person or can be done virtually, via video call or telephone. If the latter seems feasible, clinic staff then help patients access the system, which usually involves simply clicking a text message or email link. Ramping up telehealth meant that some staff and providers needed to learn a bit of new technology and understand its limitations. "For instance, you can't listen to a patient's heart or lungs on a video or phone call," Radosta says. "But you can spend more time listening to them and helping them manage their acute and chronic diseases." There are other advantages; for example, sometimes patients forget to bring their medicine bottles to appointments and may not remember what pills they're taking, he notes. So having accessibility to a patient's home environment is advantageous. "Patients can open their medicine cabinets, and diabetics, for instance, can show us what's in their refrigerators. We get a real- time snapshot of what food they're eating and, if necessary, can talk about the nutritional aspect of their illness," Radosta says. Telehealth also has helped staff treat the highly contagious COVID-19-positive inpatients by limiting exposure, especially early on when PPE shortages were acute. "Once the pandemic is over, I do think we will continue to schedule more telehealth visits. I see it as a long-term change in the way we deliver care," Radosta says. Moving forward AS THE HOLIDAYS APPROACHED, THE NUMBERS ROSE; and then they fell again during the month of February. "We probably only understand 10% of the disease. We don't know how it's going to act," Ray says. "Influenza mutates every year." Illinois Medicine | 23

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