Updated December 9, 2020

 

Dear Parents, Patients and other Caregivers,

 

As the pandemic has persisted, we continue to find our way through these extraordinary, historic times. Our lives have been altered in ways we would have thought unimaginable when this year began. The ways in which COVID-19 continues to dominate our lives is challenging in innumerable ways. As has been the case throughout the pandemic, Silver Spring Pediatrics is here to help you, both through this crisis and for those issues that existed before and will persist after the coronavirus pandemic diminishes. 

 

In order to continue to provide care to your children and to support our strong commitment to social distancing as a moral obligation, we have continued to utilize telemedicine services. Doxy.me--a web-based system--has been very effective and largely without connectivity issues in helping us provide this care.

 

Telemedicine visits will work as follows:

• The visits will require check-in over the phone before the scheduled time.

• Insurance is covering telemedicine visits, similar to in-office visits. Copays, if required by your insurance, are still applicable. Considerations with regards to deductible plans are the same as in office visits. You will be billed for the difference. In other words, there will be no difference in the billing for a telemedicine visit and an in-office visit.

• After checking in, you will go to our office website (www.silverspringpeds.com) and click on the telemedicine link.

• You will then click on the name of the doctor with whom you have the telemedicine visit.

• This will take you to a virtual waiting room, at which time the doctor will be notified of your arrival and will log on for the visit.

• There will be situations in which a telemedicine visit must be converted to an in-person, in-office visit. In those situations, you will not be billed twice.

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The following are the ways in which we are using telemedicine as part of your pediatric care: 

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(1) Over time we have found that well visits are much more effective in person. We work hard every patient visit to ensure the rooms are clean and safe. To that end, we are doing our best to complete all well visits in person, if possible. If you have individual circumstances that make telemedicine a far better option, please call and discuss that with us so we can do our best to meet your needs. If allowed by insurance, management of some chronic conditions that rely less on the physical exam continue to be well-suited to telemedicine care. Such issues include, but are not limited to, ADHD, behavior concerns, constipation, allergies, asthma, mental health issues, and nutrition concerns.

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(2) The recommendation regarding acute management of illness that may be consistent with mild coronavirus infection is that care be done at home, where possible, without exposing other people to the infection. We hope to provide telemedicine visits as a way of “seeing” the patient and discussing appropriate management. This also allows us to lay eyes, if not hands, on your children to help us assess the severity of their illness in a way that phone calls cannot.

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(3) NEW: If you have a well visit scheduled, but your child is ill that day, please call us to adjust your visit. When  you call you will be informed that we will keep the morning appointment but do that via telemedicine. At the same time you will be given a time in the afternoon (in almost all circumstances with the same doctor) at which time we will complete the physical exam and any other in-office procedures relevant to both the well visit and the illness. This allows us to maintain separation of well and sick children in our office, further minimizing infection risk for all. In short, you will see the doctor with your child via telemedicine in the morning and then in-person in the afternoon. 

 

As we all know, the recommendations and restrictions with regards to coronavirus are continuing to evolve. For the present time, telemedicine is still an approved option for most insurances. However, there may be restrictions on what can qualify for insurance coverage. For those specific considerations, please contact your insurance prior to your telemedicine appointment so you know what your insurance company will allow. We are doing our best to be informed about these rules, but individual plans may have exceptions of which we are not aware.

 

We look forward to continuing to work with you as we find our way safely through this pandemic.

 

Sincerely,

Everyone at Silver Spring Pediatrics