PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cheng, Anthony
AU  - Angier, Heather
AU  - Huguet, Nathalie
AU  - Cohen, Deborah J.
AU  - Strickland, Kellen
AU  - Barclay, Emily
AU  - Herman, Eric
AU  - McDougall, Craig
AU  - Biagioli, Frances E.
AU  - Pierce, Kam
AU  - Straub, Carliana
AU  - Straub, Bennett
AU  - DeVoe, Jennifer
TI  - Launching a Statewide COVID-19 Primary Care Hotline and Telemedicine Service
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2021.S1.200178
DP  - 2021 Feb 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - S170--S178
VI  - 34
IP  - Supplement
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/Supplement/S170.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/Supplement/S170.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2021 Feb 01; 34
AB  - To respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and recover from its aftermath, primary care teams will face waves of overwhelming demand for information and the need to significantly transform care delivery.Innovation: Oregon Health & Science University’s primary care team envisioned and implemented the COVID-19 Connected Care Center, a statewide telephone “hotline” service.Results: The hotline has taken more than 5825 calls from patients in 33 of Oregon’s 36 counties in less than 3 months. In preliminary survey data, 86% of patients said their questions were answered during the call, 90% would recommend this service, and 70% reported a reduction in stress levels about coronavirus. In qualitative interviews, patients reported their questions answered, short wait times, nurses spent time as needed, and appropriate follow-up was arranged.Conclusion: Academic health centers may have the capacity to leverage their extensive resources to rapidly launch a multiphased pandemic response that meets peoples’ need for information and access to primary care, while minimizing risk of infection and emergency department use and rapidly supporting primary care teams to make the necessary operational changes to do the same in their communities. Such efforts require external funding in a fee-for-service payment model.