MESSAGE TO REFERRING PROVIDERS
COVID-19 – CORONAVIRUS
updated 3/23/2020
Colorado Retina Associates is making it our top priority to take the appropriate precautionary measures to maintain patient, physician, and staff safety. As we have implemented new protocols and procedures, please be assured we remain committed to meeting the needs of our patients and referring providers during this difficult time.
All patient referrals will be sent to our triage department to determine appointment urgency.
Until further notice, we will be
limiting clinic visits to only essential patients
with the following: sudden vision changes, urgent intravitreal injections, retinal detachments, retinal tears, postoperative follow-up exams, endophthalmitis, and Wet AMD.
URGENT/EMERGENT REFERRALS
We will continue to accept new emergency patient referrals. For all urgent/emergent referrals that need to be seen by a CRA physician within
72-hours
, please do
not
fax, email, or use our website platform to notify us of an emergent request, instead,
call our triage line for immediate assistance
. All urgent/same-day appointment requests will be triaged to determine urgency and will be following physician direction.
Our triage department is available via phone at
(303) 261-1600 x1
,
Monday-Friday from 8:00am-5:00pm MST
. We also have a 24/7 (including weekends) designated on-call physician to ensure we are fulfilling the needs of our referring providers and their patients at all times.
NON-URGENT REFERRALS
As usual, please continue to send all non-urgent referrals via your preferred method of contact: email, fax, or through our website. Once we receive your referral, within two business days one of our team members will reach out to your patient directly to schedule their initial appointment with a CRA physician for mid-April (date will continue to be reassessed as the situation evolves).
SURGERY
All “elective” retinal surgeries that can safely be postponed will be rescheduled to mid-April
, in accordance with current guidelines.
We continue to perform all urgent/emergent surgical cases at this time
.
We are actively coordinating with our hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to maintain access for urgent and emergent surgical cases. We will continue to provide updates as surgical access expands.
IN-CLINIC APPOINTMENT PROTOCOL
A Colorado Retina staff member will attempt to screen the patient by phone 24-48-hours prior to their scheduled appointment to ensure that the patient/caregiver is not at high-risk of COVID-19 infection, including travel to high-risk areas, contact with known or suspected COVID-19 patients or symptoms of viral infection including fever, cough, or shortness of breath.
Upon appointment arrival, the patient/caregiver will be
pre-screened
prior to entry for COVID-19 symptoms. During the pre-screen process, the patient/caregiver temperature will be taken, no person showing over a 99 degree body temperature will be allowed inside our clinics. We also ask,
when possible, the patient enter the clinic alone
, caregivers will be encouraged to remain outside the clinic during the patient visit, unless their presence is absolutely necessary.
Patient appointment times will be minimized, and waiting areas are set to distance patients from each other by at least 3 feet. We are currently exploring telemedicine options, in lieu of face-to-face examinations, and will keep patients and referring providers updated of any new appointment features or changes.
CANCELLATIONS/ RESCHEDULING
We are waiving all cancellation fees indefinitely
, no questions asked, for all patients who prefer to reschedule an upcoming appointment or must be rescheduled during the pre-screening process. All patients will receive a direct call if there are any changes to their scheduled appointment and/or surgery. If patients have any questions regarding the care, or an upcoming appointment, please instruct patients to call us directly at
(303) 261-1600
.
THANK YOU
We encourage referring providers and patients to continually refer to our
website
for updates on care procedures and other actions CRA has implemented to ensure the safety of all.
As a fellow vision care provider, we understand you are dealing with a rapidly changing, uncertain situation. We want you to know we are here to support you and appreciate all you do to continue to provide the upmost level of safe and efficient care to each patient. Thank you for your patience and cooperation during this state of emergency. Given the fluidity of the situation, we will continue to reassess our protocols and adapt as we learn more about the COVID-19 outbreak. If you have any questions or concerns in regard to our new policies, procedures, or method of care please reach out to us directly.
