Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Group launched a COVID-19 Recovery Program to treat patients cleared of the novel virus who still have lingering symptoms weeks or months later, according to a Jan. 26 news release.
To be eligible for treatment in the program, patients must be referred by a physician, have had a confirmed COVID-19 infection and be experiencing persistent symptoms.
As part of the program, patients receive an in-person evaluation from an infectious diseases or pulmonary medicine expert who can refer them to a network of specialists including cardiologists, pulmonologists, neurologists and psychiatrists. The program also provides patients with access to clinical trials being conducted by Cedars-Sinai investigators.
"Given the sheer number of people worldwide who have had COVID-19 — more than 90 million — if even 1 percent experience symptoms beyond three months, that is a huge number of patients who need help," said Catherine Lee, MD, the program's co-director an an infectious disease specialist at the health system.
The program works alongside the Smidt Heart Institute's Post-COVID-19 Cardiology Program, which enrolls patients diagnosed with a heart issue associated with post-COVID-19 recovery, and the Cedars Sinai Department of Medicine's Post-ICU Clinic, which treats intensive care unit patients who developed respiratory and neurological problems after discharge.
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