Like many others, Valley Medical Group in Greenfield is reopening to all of its patients “slowly and safely,” according to its president.
“To be clear, we never closed, we’ve been open all along,” Valley Medical Group President Joel Feinman said. “We’ve been treating patients by phone, by audio and video, by telemed. We’ve had to rethink how we do things, and some things might change permanently.”
Valley Medical Group has centers in Greenfield, Northampton, Easthampton and Amherst.
“Our overriding objective is to provide necessary care and protection for our patients, providers and staff, and we learned to do it in different, safer ways during the pandemic,” he said. “Most are finding that telehealth has been a good thing, something we will continue with, at least in less critical situations.”
Feinman said Valley Medical Group offered special respiratory clinics at its facility, so patients having those types of problems and symptoms, possibly related to COVID-19, are separated from others.
“We have a separate entrance and special staff for people presenting with those types of symptoms, while keeping others in another area,” Feinman said. “We don’t want to cross-contaminate.”
The center has gradually been bringing other services back to in-person treatment, he said, but doing it safely.
“We’ve prioritized who should come in and who doesn’t need to,” he said.
Those who are at higher risk will be seen first.
“We’ll be doing mammograms, colonoscopies and seeing people with acute problems like lacerations, broken bones and other issues,” Feinman said.
Less critical patients may begin, even for annual examinations, with a telemedicine appointment. Some may need only that for some issues, while others might start with that and then be seen.
“We want to provide everyone with as little exposure as possible,” he said. “But patients should not delay if they’re having problems.”
Patients will wait in their vehicles until their doctor, nurse practitioner, physician assistant or other health care provider calls or texts them. Then, their temperature will be taken at the door and they will be screened by being asked certain questions.
“There will be no waiting rooms,” Feinman said. “A patient will be taken directly to exam rooms. Most will spend 15 minutes or less in there. We need to cut down on in-person time, but there are some things that health care providers have to see or touch, feel in person.”
It’s going to be about risk-benefit — how much risk is it to everyone involved and how much benefit in-person appointments will provide, he explained.
Feinman does not know how long those practices will last. He said there might be local spikes in COVID-19 as the economy opens, and the center doesn’t want to add to that or create stress for patients.
“We’ll also do follow-ups by video or phone,” he said. “Not every patient will have to come in.”
Feinman said primary care will eventually look more like it did pre-COVID-19, but not right away and probably not through fall and winter when the flu, a second wave of the virus and “other bugs” will most likely strike.
“We have to look at how health care is delivered,” he said. “We’ve got all of that to think about, as well as possible future pandemics of other types.”
All of Valley Medical Group’s staff members have personal protective equipment and wear masks at all times. Patients will also be provided with masks before they enter.
Like Valley Medical Group, Community Health Center of Franklin County Chief Operating Officer Jessica Calabrese said the center — which has offices in Greenfield and Orange — never really closed completely.
“There wasn’t a lot of guidance about how to close in March, so we did what was intuitive,” Calabrese said. “We still saw the most critically ill patients and did many virtual appointments.”
Community Health Center is “reopening” by prioritizing virtual care as much as possible, but getting people back on track with wellness exams and preventative measures, she said. It is adjusting its schedule by seeing one patient per hour per provider, and then spending the rest of the hour talking with patients on the phone or doing virtual examinations.
Calabrese said about 50 percent of the center’s staff is onsite. Likewise, the center is seeing about half the patients onsite that it was seeing before COVID-19.
“We do our preventative appointments in the morning, have lunch and do sick care in the afternoon,” she said. “We’ve set up our waiting rooms so that everyone is practicing social distancing. We hired someone to be in our waiting rooms to provide people with masks and hand sanitizer, and to make sure they are social distancing. We are also screening people before they come in.”
The center has continued to give school-aged children their vaccines, and is now bringing them in for annual physicals. Walk-in patients have been reduced, but if someone does feel the need to see a provider as a walk-in, those people are being asked to stay outside or in their vehicles until one is available.
“I do think telemedicine is here to stay,” she said, agreeing with Feinman. “It’s very helpful, for instance, to do follow-ups with people who have depression or anxiety, for people with chronic conditions who need to talk about nutrition or receive some other types of counseling to manage their condition, and with video quality, we can even look at rashes, cuts or scrapes and determine whether the person needs to be seen.”
Calabrese said whether that continues will be up to insurers and their reimbursements, so that it can remain a sustainable practice.
“Having telemedicine at our disposal has helped break down barriers like time constraints for individuals who are working, and transportation, which is big for some people,” she said. “It’s been incredibly convenient for increasing access to us, so we’d like to keep it in some form.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.