June 18, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
 
Please see updates below. We will plan to send this newsletter out on a weekly basis.

I would like to highlight the wonderful residency graduation on Saturday! Our new interns will start next week.

Slides from today’s Departmental meeting will be sent out tomorrow.
UNC COVID Updates
Inpatient Care
  • Universal testing of all admitted inpatients is ongoing.
  • We currently have 2 COVID inpatients in the PICU. Both are improving.
Virtual Care
  • Much has been published this week about conducting virtual visits with patients who are not in North Carolina.
  • The Ambulatory Governance Committee (with input from Legal and Compliance departments) has developed the attached policy on providing virtual visits to patients located outside of North Carolina at the time of the visit.
  • Documentation of a patient’s location at the time of the scheduled video visit will automatically occur with the Epic@UNC embedded Video solution when the patient enters through MyUNCChart portal. 
  • Documentation of a patient’s location at the time of all other methods for scheduled video visits, phone visits, MyUNCChart and eVisits must be entered by the physician in the medical record.
Brief Out of State Virtual Care Highlights for UNC Health physicians
Providers may only provide out-of-state virtual care services (video, phone, e-Visits) :
  1. To established patients (Established patients have an existing relationship with the virtual provider (or their practice) within the past 3 years.)
  2. To patients located in one of the states listed in the chart available on the VCC intranet page and attached.
  3. Only so long as the physician is complying with the requirements of that state’s medical board.
  • This policy applies regardless of whether the physician is billing for the virtual visit. 
  • Failing to comply with this policy could result in disciplinary action against the physician by medical boards and loss of malpractice insurance coverage.
  • A separate inquiry to General Counsel advises, based on a variety of concerns, that a provider should not conduct virtual visits when the provider is not in North
  • Advanced Practice Providers are not permitted to perform virtual visits for patients outside of North Carolina. If an established patient of an APP needs a virtual visit while outside of North Carolina, the APP should discuss with their supervising physician whether the physician meets the state’s requirements and could perform the visit instead.
Ambulatory Care
  • On your clinic day, a member of the clinic nursing team should reach out to you in the morning via epic messenger. This person will be your contact for help during the clinic day. Please keep in mind that they may be triaging in-person visits, as well as, assisting with video visits. If you do not receive an epic messenger or need assistance, you may always call the charge nurse for Chapel Hill or Blue Ridge depending on your location. 
  • Blue Ridge Charge nurse: 984.215.5601
  • Chapel Hill Charge nurse: 984-974-7496
  • Please remember to use the improved process for scheduling follow-up of your patients seen in clinic virtually and in person. The Optimized Workflow for Scheduling Follow Up Visits Children’s Specialty Clinics process is on the Pediatric COVID Resources page.
Your COVID-19 Questions & Answers
Responses from Tom Belhorn

A (good) question from a parent...
Q: My child has received several transfusions and probably has to get more. Are these blood products being tested for COVID-19? Is there a risk of him getting the infection from a transfusion?
 
A: This question has arisen a couple times as early reports revealed that viremia (or at least “RNA-emia”) had been documented in some patients with COVID-19. However, at this point it is thought that acquiring COVID-19 from transfusion of blood products is very unlikely. To date there have been no reported cases of transfusion-transmission of COVID-19 (and there were none ever reported for SARS-CoV1 or MERS). From the academic standpoint, infected individuals who are asymptomatic would likely not be amongst the individuals who would have viremia. Because of this, the FDA has not required testing of blood donors and there is no testing of blood products for COVID-19 currently. 
COVID-19 & Asthma: The Time for Equity in Healthcare is NOW
Free Webinar
June 24, 2020 at 3:00p

There is a much needed spotlight on the disparities in our country – racial, economic and in the arena of healthcare. Join our speakers for a look at the issues and discussion about a path forward.

Speakers
Dr. LeRoy Graham
Dr. Purvi Parikh
Tonya Winders, President and CEO of Allergy & Asthma Network

Reserve Your Seat Now - REGISTER HERE
Wellness and Diversity
Special UNC TEAM ADVANCE Webinar
A Conversation on Anti-Blackness, White Privilege, and Allyship
Monday, June 22, 11:00a to 12:30p
 
Moderators: Kia Caldwell and Shauna Cooper
Confirmed Speakers: Sharon P. Holland, William Sturkey, Heidi Kim, and Mark Katz
 

You can also live stream on YouTube . This option is available to off-campus attendees. 
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020, 11:30a-12:30p EDT
 
All welcome to attend. Click here to connect via ZOOM.

Seminar from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, & Immunology
Please consider attending one of the webinars listed in this newsletter.
Thank you for your continued hard work! 
 
Gratefully,
919-417-3130 (cell)