In tandem with a customer base that was suddenly unable to visit Legacy ’ s clinics and sites , the organization also had to adapt to its own staff ’ s transition to a remote working model . “ It was kind of the perfect storm ,” he recalls . “ We made a big push towards working from home which was something we had not done before . Again , within just a few weeks , we managed to make a 180-degree shift to enable a significant number of people to work from home and , in the case of many of our providers , to provide care remotely .”
Today , Legacy ’ s Behavioral Health Service Line is delivering 91 % more telehealth appointments than pre- COVID-19 . “ Virtual visits have drastically changed the way members of our community receive health care . Whereas virtual visits were previously reserved for those with private insurance that approved this option , now anyone can get the care they need from the comfort of their home ,” commented Katy Caldwell , Legacy ’ s CEO , in May . Near the beginning of lockdown , Legacy also opened a virtual pediatric clinic to deliver care to minors in need of physical and / or mental health services .
In order to connect Legacy ’ s customers with its healthcare professionals , Tennant and his team have increased their efforts to digitally enable the organization ’ s customer-facing experience .
“ A lot of our innovations are customerfacing . We ’ re working to build out what I call a digital patient engagement strategy – or a digital front door – for our patients , so they can take advantage of services from Legacy without having to come into a clinic or site ,” Tennant explains . “ Its development has only been accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak .
19 healthcareglobal . com