VALHALLA, N.Y. (May 21, 2020) – WMCHealth and WMCHealth Physicians/Advanced Physician Services announce that routine office visits are resuming at our medical practices in Westchester County. New York State has approved the resumption of routine medical practice visits based on the status of coronavirus impact, including a drop in COVID-19 cases, in specific counties. WMCHealth Physicians/Advanced Physician Services medical practices have returned to regular office hours in Dutchess, Ulster and Delaware, Putnam, and now Westchester, counties.
This return to regular office hours for medical practices follows this week's resumption of outpatient ambulatory procedures and medical testing on the WMCHealth campus of Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.
Next steps for individuals who receive their primary, or specialty medical care, from medical practices in Westchester County:
- Medical practice offices are contacting patients who are due for follow up care.
- Patients who earlier rescheduled an office visit for routine care, such as an annual physical, will receive an appointment reminder, and should feel free to call their providers office if they need to adjust their appointment date.
- Patients who need an appointment can call their providers office directly. Medical practices will schedule an office appointment as quickly as possible or offer an appointment through telehealth (video) or phone if that is more convenient for the patient.
- Individuals who are not established with a provider, or who need to see a new provider for any reason, can call our temporary call center at 1-833-329-0095 for convenient connection to an area medical practice.
For Your Safety
Our care teams have the training, equipment, and capability to provide care safely – for our patients and our workforce. Patients can be assured that all CDC guidelines are met or exceeded when it comes to our use of personal protective equipment. Additionally, special COVID-19 cleaning protocols were developed for our medical practice offices, hospitals and surgery centers. Rest assured, your experience will be comfortable and safe.
WMCHealth Physicians medical practices are following these safety protocols for patients and our workforce:
- Patients will be screened for COVID-19 exposure and symptoms during appointment making/follow up calls. Patients will be asked if they have tested positive for the coronavirus, as well as if they are experiencing symptoms including fever, cough, malaise, shortness of breath, sore throat, diarrhea. Patients will also be asked if they have been exposed to someone who has had coronavirus – or, any symptoms of it.
- Only patients with a confirmed appointment may enter a medical practice office.
- Support person entry is limited to those patients who require assistance.
- Upon arrival, patients are asked to call the office so that the staff can advise when to enter. Once inside an office, patients will see changes, including social distancing signage on chairs in waiting areas, and wait/stop here signage on the floors. Additionally, some offices may stagger hours or use other approaches to limit the number of people inside the practice at any given time.
- All patients, staff and approved visitors are always required to wear a mask. Direct caregivers will wear additional PPE during a physical exam.
- Employees will be screened for symptoms, including fever, each day.
- Exam rooms will be disinfected between each patient and sanitized every evening.
Elective and Ambulatory Outpatient Procedures Re-Started Last Week
Outpatient surgeries and testing resumed earlier this week at Westchester Medical Center and Maria Fareri Children's Hospital. While each patient previously scheduled for an outpatient procedure is being called to reschedule, individuals can feel free to initiate re-scheduling by contacting their surgeon's office. Go to WestchesterMedicalCenter.org for more detail.
Outpatient ambulatory surgery has also resumed at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick, Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie, and HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston.
Affiliated physicians are welcome to call WMCHealth surgery practices to discuss a patient who will be rescheduled for a procedure, or to make a new referral.
Care Always Available
Emergency and urgent care continue to take place, regardless of a patient's COVID-19 status.
Any individual with new or concerning symptoms or a change in health status should not wait for care and should call their primary physician's office or come to an emergency room. The health and well-being of our community, our patients and our workforce is our number one priority. We have taken extraordinary measures to protect our patients and our workforce, and to ensure that all our care environments are safe.