April 3, 2020
In an effort to be more accessible to patients during the COVID-19 outbreak, University Medical Center has transitioned its evening clinic hours to evening telemedicine hours.
Beginning April 6, telemedicine visits will be available to existing and new patients Mondays through Thursdays from 5:30 pm to 7 pm. Patients wishing to schedule an evening telemedicine appointment should call UMC in Tuscaloosa at (205) 348-1770 during daytime business hours.
UMC began significantly increasing the provision of daytime telemedicine appointments for patients over the past two weeks. Evening clinic hours were cancelled at that time out of a concern for patient and UMC employee safety in light of the coronavirus.
Dr. Richard Friend, dean of The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences, which operates UMC, said telemedicine is now making up nearly all psychiatry and psychology patient visits, about half of pediatric visits, and the number of patients seeking telemedicine visits with their family medicine physicians is growing.
Dr. Tom Weida, UMC’s chief medical officer, said telemedicine visits can be conducted with patients via computer with video and audio, or with an iPhone using FaceTime. If these options aren’t available for patients, they can receive a telephone patient visit, he said.
Weida said if after the telemedicine visit it is determined that the patient needs a face-to-face visit with a UMC physician, that visit would be scheduled within 24 hours and the patient would not be charged for the telemedicine visit.
