Harris Medical Group Launches Telemedicine Services

The Harris Medical Group announced today that it has added telemedicine to patients at Harris Family Care – Franklin, Harris Medical Associates, Harris Women’s Care, Harris Pulmonary and Sleep Center and Harris Pediatric Care. The announcement comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s unprecedented expansion of telehealth services.

“We are pleased to offer convenient telemedicine solutions to help connect patients and providers, and ensure the continued delivery of high quality care,” shared Dedra Vinson, Harris Medical Group Market Director. “As the situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve, telehealth capabilities enable our clinical team to practice social distancing to further reduce the spread of illness while still meeting our patients’ health needs. We look forward to the many ways this new offering will further advance our mission of Making Communities Healthier.”

For patients who meet certain clinical criteria, Harris Medical Group is offering two types of telehealth visits: telephonic and televideo. A telephonic visit is simply a patient phone call with a provider, and a televideo visit is a virtual, face-to-face visit with a provider using a video conferencing service. Virtual visits may not be available in all cases and will be evaluated based on a patient’s specific clinical needs.

Patients can request a telehealth visit by calling their provider’s office, just as they would for an in-person visit. The provider will determine if a telehealth visit is appropriate based on the patient’s health condition. If the virtual visit is deemed clinically appropriate, the patient will be given an appointment time and instructions for the best way to connect given the available platforms. Then, instead of coming to the office, he or she would call back at the scheduled time and be “checked in” by a nurse or office manager, and then transferred to the provider for the call or two-way video.

A few restrictions on telephonic visits may apply, including that they cannot be utilized to treat patients for a condition that the patient has been seen for in the previous seven days, and they cannot be used to treat a condition that the patient is already coming in for within the next 24 hours.

Patients who are concerned they may be experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 are encouraged to consider telemedicine appointments to help further reduce the spread of respiratory illness. Leveraging telemedicine also conserves personal protective equipment (PPE) and other clinical resources that are needed when treating a patient with suspected COVID-19 in the clinic or hospital setting.

About Harris Medical Group

Harris Medical Group is comprised of physicians and practices serving western North Carolina with locations in Sylva, Bryson City, Franklin and Cullowhee. Practices that are included within the Harris Medical Group include; Harris Cardiology, Harris Family Care – Cullowhee, Harris Family Care – Franklin, Harris GI Associates, Harris Medical Associates, Harris Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Harris Pediatric Care, Harris Pulmonary & Sleep Center, Harris Surgical Associates, Harris Urology and Harris Women’s Care.