Wheel Is Extending COVID-19 Telehealth Response Services to Healthcare Companies

  • March 16, 2020

In these trying circumstances, society is asking: how can we provide care while reducing contact? Telehealth is essential to supporting hospitals and healthcare systems as the nation seeks to collectively manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. And that means accessing as many clinicians as possible who are well trained and prepared to deploy this precious resource.

To help rapidly increase telehealth capacity to serve patients, Wheel has launched COVID-19 Telehealth Emergency Response Services to extend screening, triage, care navigation, and educational services in a time of crisis.

This service from Wheel provides healthcare companies with rapid access to a network of board-certified clinicians who are specially trained in both virtual care and CDC-guided clinical protocols for COVID-19.

This solution yields a workforce of clinicians who are "remote and ready," trained specifically in:

  • The rapidly changing data points related to COVID-19 for patient education
  • Timely, CDC-guided care navigation strategies -- a particularly crucial need for clinicians who want to help, but typically practice outside infectious disease or critical care specialties

Dozens of healthcare companies have reached out to Wheel in the past weeks as the impact of coronavirus has become clear, and clinicians across the country are seeking to join the front lines by joining Wheel’s virtual care network.

“Virtual care is reconfiguring healthcare delivery -- and the importance of this shift, and the type of care and reach it enables, is glaringly clear in the context of this crisis,” says Michelle Davey, CEO of Wheel. “A key challenge we must address as a nation amidst the COVID-19 crisis is the opportunity and need for mass training of clinicians across the country-- specific to the data and screening protocols associated with COVID-19, as well as virtual care best practices so we can optimize the power of digital care and telemedicine to reduce system burden and prevent unnecessary exposure.”

...the opportunity and need for mass training of clinicians across the country-- specific to the data and screening protocols associated with COVID-19, as well as virtual care best practices...

How It Works

Wheel’s service is a white-label offering that connects directly to healthcare companies’ telehealth platforms, to virtually extend screening and medical guidance to those potentially infected or at high risk of infection. Importantly, these clinicians reduce the surge in demand that brick-and-mortar hospitals and healthcare systems are experiencing by addressing the needs of the broader patient population, including:

  • “Worried well” patients in need of trusted medical advice on coronavirus prevention and symptom evaluation
  • The non-emergent patient population in need of routine medical care, such as management of chronic conditions, STI testing, weight-loss management, mental health screening, asthma and migraine management, and UTI diagnosis and treatment

Wheel’s COVID-19 Telehealth Emergency Response Service triages patients rapidly and compliantly through a simple 5-step process:

  1. The patient accesses the healthcare companies’ virtual care interface
  2. Next, the patient completes a risk assessment form, so the clinician can gain a thorough understanding of current symptoms and care history
  3. The Wheel-trained clinician reviews the patient’s completed form and determines the patient’s risk level and next steps for care
  4. The patient then begins an online or video chat with the clinician, to discuss the clinician’s assessment
  5. The Wheel-trained clinician provides care navigation, guidance, and determines follow-up and referral needs on a case-by-case basis

Dr. Rafid Fadul, Wheel’s chief medical officer and a critical care physician, is focused on the immediate training of the clinical community to support this offering. Wheel is actively adding physicians and nurse practitioners to their care network to support the urgent need for a specialized virtual clinician workforce.

“Making virtual care services safe and accessible is crucial to public health in response to COVID-19,” said Dr. Fadul. “Our role in this crisis is to help telehealth platforms and healthcare providers respond to community’s needs as rapidly as possible. Physicians and nurse practitioners already in our Wheel Care Team are trained on both telemedicine best practices as well as the CDC-guided COVID-19 protocols. ”

Physicians and nurse practitioners already in our Wheel Care Team are trained on both telemedicine best practices as well as the CDC-guided COVID-19 protocols.

To learn more about Wheel’s COVID-19 Telehealth Emergency Response Services, visit. www.wheel.com/COVID-19 or contact [email protected].

If you’re a clinician interested in getting involved, apply today here.