Road trip: Geisinger health bus addressing care gaps
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DANVILLE, Pa. -- Geisinger is taking a road trip this summer to make health easier for our patients and members. Utilizing the system’s mobile health services bus, members of Geisinger’s wellness and primary care teams are offering preventive care services and screenings to help people better manage their health.
The mobile health services bus will be traveling across Geisinger’s Pennsylvania service area in July and August and stopping at Geisinger facilities. The locations were selected by leveraging Geisinger’s population health tool, powered by Cerner. The tool helps to identify patients in a certain location who need preventive care screenings, or who have a gap in their preventive health care.
“As Geisinger safely returns our services and programs, we are truly focusing on prevention and early detection during these visits,” said Juli Molecavage, Geisinger associate vice president of primary care services. “We know some patients may have missed a checkup over the past few months due to the pandemic, and by bringing these health resources closer to home, we can help keep them on top of their health.”
A number of the services available on the bus include care for patients with diabetes. Annually, Geisinger cares for more than 45,000 patients with diabetes and sees an average of 500 new diabetes diagnosis a month. Diabetic A1C monitoring, diabetic nephropathy screenings and diabetic retinopathy screenings will be available. Preventive screenings can also be booked during the bus visits, including mammograms and colonoscopies. Patients will also have their blood pressure, height, weight and body mass index checked.
“We want to help our patients and members better manage their chronic conditions and make sure they’re getting their appropriate screenings,” Molecavage said. “We are bringing patients in, addressing the gaps in their care, and referring them back to their primary care physician for follow up care.”
The bus will be staffed by nurses, wellness associates and a phlebotomist. Based on the screenings, the wellness team members can help patients identify resources to help them with any health challenges they’re facing or offer enrollment in programs like Geisinger at Home, Geisinger Gold (Medicare Advantage) and Geisinger 65 Forward.
In accordance with COVID-19 precautions, patients are being contacted and scheduled for appointments on the bus. Before boarding the bus, patients will be screened by having their temperature taken and will be required to wear a mask. Appointments are being separated to allow for appropriate physical (social) distancing and additional cleaning between visits.
The mobile health services bus will be traveling across Geisinger’s Pennsylvania service area in July and August and stopping at Geisinger facilities. The locations were selected by leveraging Geisinger’s population health tool, powered by Cerner. The tool helps to identify patients in a certain location who need preventive care screenings, or who have a gap in their preventive health care.
“As Geisinger safely returns our services and programs, we are truly focusing on prevention and early detection during these visits,” said Juli Molecavage, Geisinger associate vice president of primary care services. “We know some patients may have missed a checkup over the past few months due to the pandemic, and by bringing these health resources closer to home, we can help keep them on top of their health.”
A number of the services available on the bus include care for patients with diabetes. Annually, Geisinger cares for more than 45,000 patients with diabetes and sees an average of 500 new diabetes diagnosis a month. Diabetic A1C monitoring, diabetic nephropathy screenings and diabetic retinopathy screenings will be available. Preventive screenings can also be booked during the bus visits, including mammograms and colonoscopies. Patients will also have their blood pressure, height, weight and body mass index checked.
“We want to help our patients and members better manage their chronic conditions and make sure they’re getting their appropriate screenings,” Molecavage said. “We are bringing patients in, addressing the gaps in their care, and referring them back to their primary care physician for follow up care.”
The bus will be staffed by nurses, wellness associates and a phlebotomist. Based on the screenings, the wellness team members can help patients identify resources to help them with any health challenges they’re facing or offer enrollment in programs like Geisinger at Home, Geisinger Gold (Medicare Advantage) and Geisinger 65 Forward.
In accordance with COVID-19 precautions, patients are being contacted and scheduled for appointments on the bus. Before boarding the bus, patients will be screened by having their temperature taken and will be required to wear a mask. Appointments are being separated to allow for appropriate physical (social) distancing and additional cleaning between visits.
About Geisinger
Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1 million people it serves. Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes 10 hospital campuses, a health plan with more than half a million members, a research institute and the Geisinger College of Health Sciences, which includes schools of medicine, nursing and graduate education. With more than 25,000 employees and 1,700+ employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually. Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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