Southern California Orthopedic Institute Offering Safe, Online Orthopedic Care to Area Residents During COVID-19
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 while providing essential orthopedic care services, Southern California Orthopedic Institute is now offering telemedicine as an alternative approach to seeing patients with bone, joint and muscle concerns. This approach enables patients to safely visit with one of the practice’s specialty-trained providers from the comfort of their own home or office using video conference and telecommunications technology, such as a smartphone or tablet. In addition to lowering exposure risk at the practice, this care measure will also allow for reduced patient traffic in hospitals, emergency rooms and traditional urgent care facilities while those entities focus on fighting COVID-19 cases.
Southern California Orthopedic Institute is open and seeing patients at all locations in Van Nuys, Bakersfield, Valencia, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Beverly Hills and Porter Ranch. However, established and new patients are encouraged to schedule a video visit for any of the following reasons:
- You are 65 years of age or above or have an underlying medical condition which puts you in a high-risk category.
- You are interested in doing a video visit in lieu of an office visit, either for follow-up or for a new condition.
- You answer “yes” to any of the questions on the Infectious Disease Screening Questionnaire (which can be found at www.scoi.com/infectious-disease-screening-questionnaire).
Through telemedicine, the practice’s specialty-trained experts will be able to diagnose over 80% of bone, joint and muscle injuries. This new, secure technology is HIPAA-compliant and offers area residents accurate, high-quality orthopedic care without risk to themselves and others as well as the practice’s providers and staff. Patients seeking a video visit must be physically located in California and have a working smartphone or tablet. The practice also has safety protocols in place for any imaging or hands-on services that may be necessary for further diagnosis or treatment.
“At Southern California Orthopedic Institute, we prioritize the health and well-being of our patients and staff above all else. We are also dedicated to ensuring area residents have quick and safe access to essential care for orthopedic injuries, which often are painful, inconvenient and occur when least expected,” says Managing Director Dr. Paul Simic of Southern California Orthopedic Institute. “As part of that dedication, we are continuing to provide specialized care to patients while offering a health-conscious solution through telemedicine during this unfortunate time of crisis.”
As regional experts in orthopedics and related pain and injuries, Southern California Orthopedic Institute will be able to ease strain on our community health system with telemedicine. Additionally, their doctors and specialty-trained staff will be able to minimize risk of any potential viral exposure to as many individuals as possible through this approach as well as following local and national health safety guidelines.
For more information on telemedicine or to schedule an appointment with Southern California Orthopedic Institute, please call (818) 901-6600.
