HJNO Jul/Aug 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I JUL / AUG 2020 15 insurance coverage. We also service many patients whose household incomes are less than guidelines listed per the current Federal Poverty Level. In addition to fee for service and insur- ance payments, our funding also comes from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), grants, and the generous support of corporations and in- dividual donors. Much has been said about patients not getting much needed healthcare because of the pandemic, and how this dispropor- tionately impacts those with addictions and chronic conditions. How is your team addressing the needs of these patients? DePaul Community Health Centers is helping patients address chronic health conditions every day, and during COVID-19, through initiatives like our diabetes pre- vention and diabetes management groups, smoking cessation, andMedication-Assisted Treatment program for substance use. Tech- nology is playing a greater role in how we provide patient education and care, such as remote monitoring of chronically ill patients and actual clinical conditions. Another offer- ing includes the Care Fellowship, in which community health navigators work with the underserved to alleviate barriers to health care, like unemployment, a lack of food and housing, and should be expanded to help with reducing health disparities. Can you tell us more about the rollout of telemedicine, and how DePaul practitio- ners have adapted to these technologies? The pandemic forced us to implement an aggressive rollout of telemedicine. While several of our providers had experience with the technology, we held several training and testing sessions prior to fully implement- ing it. Naturally, a few hiccups occurred, but the overall process has proven to be quite successful. In fact, telemedicine currently “Telemedicine currently represents the lion’s share of our business. It provides flexibility for our providers, and in particular, has helped increase the capacity of our behavioral health services, which are needed now more than ever.”