This message is from Michael Rossi, MD, President,
Lehigh Valley Physician Group

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is making all of us take unusual steps at home and at work. We are in the midst of an unprecedented challenge. Not only must we take steps to protect the health and safety of our patients, colleagues and community, we also have a responsibility to do what is necessary to preserve LVHN for when we are on the other side of this crisis.

LVHN has already taken swift and innovative actions. We revised our hospital and outpatient visitation policies, began pre-visit screening for patients and pre-work screening for colleagues, reduced ambulatory surgeries and much more. Now Lehigh Valley Physician Group (LVPG) is taking necessary steps to help ensure the future strength of our physician group and health network.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, LVPG accommodated almost 10,000 patient visits per day. Today, in prioritizing the public health and safety of our community, we have intentionally reduced our face-to-face patient encounters so that our physician group is physically seeing less than half the patients we previously did – by doing the right thing and encouraging our patients to stay safe at home.

Here are the steps we are taking:

• Temporary suspensions of face-to-face visits in select physician practices. LVPG will temporarily suspend in-person visits at 146 physician practice locations over the next two weeks. Patients of those practices will be re-directed to receive care at nearby convenient LVPG locations with our healthcare team. We will continue to operate a total of 145 physician practices, ExpressCARE and COVID-19 Assess & Test centers in locations that are easily accessible throughout our service area.
   
• Staff furloughs. Suspending in-person office visits means some of our LVPG colleagues will be furloughed. We have started these conversations today with the more than 900 of our colleagues impacted by the service suspension. Those that are furloughed will keep their benefits and resume employment when it is safe for in-person patient visits to return to normal levels. Colleagues who are furloughed will have the option to sign up for unemployment compensation immediately, be compensated by using accrued paid time off (PTO) hours, or choose which combination of the two works best for them. Our Physicians and Advanced Practice Clinicians will remain available to continue to provide patient care in practices that remain open and by using technology we are introducing to our patients on a level that ensures strong communication between patients and providers.
   
• Emphasizing modern care delivery methods. We will dramatically increase our use of our MyLVHN.org patient portal and MyLVHN app, E-visits and LVHN Video Visits as well as phone encounter visits to deliver care and prevent the spread of infection. Our Technology division has expanded our video visit capabilities, allowing us to conduct a large volume of video visits simultaneously. No patient will be left behind. All patients will continue to have access to LVPG physicians and can choose how they wish to interact with that physician – virtually or in person.

These are significant steps, but we are in a tough fight. By taking action now, we will preserve LVPG for tomorrow so that we can partner together to build on our 25-year history of exceptional care.