Healthcare is changing.
The COVID pandemic revealed the need for a new care solution from the comfort of home: telehealth.
Telehealth started with NASA but recently has been pushed to the forefront of the healthcare industry. With purchases of groceries, clothing and home decor and even large items like cars and houses going virtual, it is logical that health care followed suit.
The American Academy of Pediatrics asserts that the “health care market requires a correction to incorporate tele-practice in the pediatric medical home with new emphasis on community-based health care providers delivering care directly to their patients.”
Many of the larger hospitals have adapted a telehealth service, but what option is there for children? A new company, Florida Virtual Pediatrics, believes it has the answer.
Florida Virtual Pediatrics seeks to help families with urgent care issues but also strives to be an asset to families with chronic concerns. Guardians can call about diet, nutrition, mental health issues, behavior, parenting, nursing and other issues with child rearing.
The company can also assist with asthma management and other long-term issues, like acne and eczema. The convenience of telehealth coupled with the local knowledge and hospital relationships developed through years working in the local community provides a level of care tailored to the individual’s actual condition along with a well-informed referral network if the need arises.
Florida Virtual Pediatrics is a telehealth company based in Atlantic Beach. The main provider of the company is Meredith Jones, who has been a practicing licensed pediatric nurse practitioner for the last 13 years.
During that time, Jones worked both in private pediatric practices as well as for Wolfson’s Children Hospital. She believes telehealth is a way to improve the overall health care experience for children.
A benefit to telehealth is the visit takes place in the comfort and safety of home. The AAP reports that “telehealth services demonstrate high parent satisfaction, reduced absenteeism due to illness, reduced travel time and costs, high rates of visit completion, and reduced ED and UC visits.”
Telehealth will ultimately improve the quality and convenience of outpatient medicine.
For more information, go to www.floridavirtualpediatrics.com.
