Telemedicine

The Division of Infectious Diseases at UPMC launched the Telemedicine Infectious Diseases service in December of 2013 which has been expanding since. We currently provide infectious diseases consultation services via telemedicine to UPMC Northwest and UPMC Bedford. In July 2015 the Transplant Infectious Diseases group started their first Telemedicine service with UPMC Hamot. Soon we will start our first non-UPMC Telemedicine service with the Penn Highlands Health Care System.

A typical Telemedicine consult involves a face to face encounter between the physician specialist and the patients which include physical examination using state of the art equipment. In addition we also provide e-consult visits. These are consultations between the primary physician taking care of the patient and an infectious diseases specialist. It involves review of available records, history per physician requesting the consult without seeing the patient.

Patients in the inpatient and outpatient setting in need for an infectious diseases consultation are now able to be evaluated by our renown experts in the different subspecialties of infectious diseases and receive UPMC’s world class services without having to travel to the main UPMC campus. Our trained specialists in Telehealth manage a wide array of infections including but not limited to pneumonia, endocarditis, device-related infections, intra-abdominal infections, skin and soft tissue infection, and lyme disease. In the outpatient settings, patients undergoing evaluation for transplantation, or  require  management following of chronic infections such as Hepatitis C and HIV, have also been managed successfully via Telemedicine.

Our experience so far with providing healthcare services via Telemedicine has been proven to increase access to specialized healthcare services with decreasing the cost of travel and minimizing the need for transfer to a tertiary care center. In addition to improving their clinical outcomes and minimizing their length of stay, patients have been very grateful and extremely satisfied with the opportunity of seeing experts in infectious diseases and in receiving the same high value care without having to leave their hometown.

If you are interested in obtaining more information about our Telemedicine program or would like to receive infectious diseases consultation from a UPMC expert please contact Rima Abdel-Massih, MD.

Contact Information

 

Rima Abdel-Massih, MD

Director,
ID Telemedicine Services

Phone: (412) 648-6508

Email:
abdelmassihr@upmc.edu

Division of Infectious Diseases
Academic Administrative Office

818 Scaife Hall
3550 Terrace Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Academic Office: 412-383-9062

For Patients: 412-647-7228

Center for Care of Infectious Diseases

Falk Medical Building
3601 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Patient Appointments: 412-647-7228

Main CCID Fax: 412-647-7951