Charleston-based Medical University of South Carolina is extending its virtual care platform to offer patients access to a drive-through respiratory specimen collection site to test for COVID-19, according to a March 12 news release.
MUSC Health launched free online coronavirus screenings last week through its virtual urgent care platform. The health system is now rolling out a drive-through respiratory specimen collection site, where providers wearing the appropriate CDC-recommended personal protective equipment can quickly collect specimens from patients who have screened into the system as "high risk" for respiratory illness, including exposure to COVID-19.
The drive-through is not a walk-up service for anyone in the community who has a health concern but rather an extension of the virtual care screening. Patients who participate in a virtual appointment and a testing order will have an appointment scheduled through the telehealth platform to have their specimen collected and tested for COVID-19.
"This is a very innovative use of technology to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and I am incredibly proud of our MUSC Health care team for working so hard and quickly to make this option available," said MUSC Health CEO Patrick Cawley said in the news release. "…We want to do everything we can to think out of the box in terms of how we can help the community during this time."
The drive-through site is in the parking lot of the Citadel Mall campus, which is outside MUSC Health's West Ashley Medical Pavilion in Charleston.