The University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Regional One Health have established a post-COVID-19 clinic to provide specialized outpatient follow-up care to individuals who have tested positive for the virus and may be experiencing long-term symptoms after recovery. The clinic will also be available to individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are asymptomatic but interested in learning about research studies to develop overall understanding of the virus and its residual effects.
The clinic will serve as a follow-up care option for COVID-19 patients, said G. Nicholas Verne, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine in the College of Medicine at UTHSC, who is one of the organizers, along with Tish Towns, FACHE, senior vice president and chief administrative officer at Regional One Health. The clinic will be led by Cyrilyn Walters, MD, MPH, FACP, FAAP, medical director for ambulatory services at Regional One Health and an assistant professor of Medicine-General Medicine at UTHSC.
“This clinic, together with the inpatient COVID unit at Regional One Health, will establish a COVID medical home that will provide longitudinal follow up and care for patients who have had COVID-19,” Dr. Verne said. “Patients who have been diagnosed with COVID, either in the community or at Regional One Health, and have been hospitalized or are out of the hospital, will have the opportunity to seek follow-up care there.”
The COVID-19 Follow-up Clinic offers both in-clinic visits in addition to telehealth visits. Onsite appointments are held at Regional One Health Outpatient Center, 880 Madison Avenue. Patients should call (901) 545-6969, Option #2, and then Option #1. Referrals should be sent to (901) 545-6092, and note “COVID Follow Up” as the reason for referral.
UTHSC faculty who practice at Regional One Health, a clinical practice partner hospital with UTHSC, will provide the longitudinal or long-term follow-up care in the clinic. “Because this is a multidisciplinary practice site, there are doctors who have expertise and experience in various fields and have available study options for patients who may have long-term quality-of-life issues following infection,” Dr. Verne said. For example, individuals experiencing pulmonary or other issues post COVID-19 could get treatment from specialists in those fields. They would also have access to research available on post-COVID-19 residual effects.
We are delighted to partner with Regional One Health in caring for patients who were infected with COVID-19,” said Scott Strome, MD, executive dean of the UTHSC College of Medicine. “This clinic is designed to diagnose and treat the litany of COVID-19-associated symptoms and to serve as a resource for our entire community.”