United Digestive, a physician practice management company focused on gastroenterology, today announced its implementation of HIPAA-compliant telehealth appointments across all its affiliated practices.
“We are proud to expedite our telehealth services in order to meet the needs of our patients,” said Mark Gilreath, CEO for United Digestive. “Whether in metro Atlanta, Savannah, or rural areas, we wanted everyone to have easy access to high-quality digestive healthcare during this public health crisis.”
In addition to offering virtual, telehealth appointments for routine needs, United Digestive has also adopted the GI society guidelines to reschedule all elective, non-urgent procedures.
“In order to break the cycle of this COVID-19 pandemic, we are limiting all in-person appointments to time-sensitive care only, including proactively rescheduling elective endoscopic procedures,” said Neal C. Patel, MD, Vice President of Clinical Development for United Digestive. “We feel strongly that this is the right decision for the safety of our patients, our employees, our physicians, and the communities we serve.”
During this time, all United Digestive-affiliated practices remain open for telehealth appointments and are seeing patients at select regional offices and endoscopy centers in order to accommodate patients’ time-sensitive needs across their geographic footprint. These services include both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, infusion therapies, and evaluation of any distressing symptoms.