At Fabric, we talk a lot about clinical efficiency, quality, and reducing unnecessary visits to the ER for simple conditions. And these are all valuable outcomes of launching a virtual care platform. What is incredibly meaningful, however, is hearing how our customers deploy virtual care to help people in communities where there are particularly challenging situations. This is exemplified by one of our newer customers, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).
When hurricane Florence was recessed out in the Atlantic, MUSC made the swift decision to offer South Carolina residents free virtual visits during the storm. Free online visits in the aftermath of natural disasters aren’t a new thing – for big companies. Many of the major consumer-facing telemedicine service providers have offered free visits following some of the big hurricanes that left people stranded and unable to reach their doctors. But I believe MUSC’s fast actions signal a new phase in how virtual care can be used for disaster relief. During the storm, patients who needed assistance with common conditions had access to care from their trusted, local providers. And providers could easily care for patients with common conditions in a fraction of the time, leaving them free to care for more complex or urgent cases face to face. MUSC even used their newly-deployed phone service to help current patients receive medication refills. And, because the virtual care platform is integrated with the EMR, patients’ records remain complete. During the course of the storm, approximately 80% of MUSC’s more than 150 virtual visit patients throughout South Carolina used promo codes to receive free online care. These patients had health concerns ranging from upper respiratory infections and bronchitis, to bladder infections, to asthma inhaler refills.
According to Dr. Ed O’Bryan, Chief Medical Officer, Business Health at MUSC, “Conditions like bladder infections or bronchitis don’t wait because there’s a hurricane. Patients who weren’t able to come in due to flooding – or even evacuation to other parts of South Carolina – could get treatment easily.” This deployment of MUSC’s virtual care platform highlights why many of us at Fabric come to work everyday. As our CMO, Dr. Lisa Ide says, “We are about more care for more people.” I’m proud to support and work with an organization like MUSC that is so clearly dedicated to supporting their community.
