As UNC students and faculty continue to adjust to operating remotely, health services on campus have also made the transition to providing services online through telehealth.
Campus Health now allows patients to receive telehealth services for limited treatment purposes that do not require in-person appointments.
Ken Pittman, executive director for Campus Health, described the two ways in which students can access telehealth services.
“For telehealth at Campus Health, we will be using — as CAPS uses — HIPAA-compliant Zoom,” Pittman said. “Students are able to either call us and go through a screening process, or they are able to request through their web portal that they would like a telehealth appointment.”
This screening process, Pittman said, will require students to describe their reason for the appointment and consent to communicating with a provider virtually. It will also require them to disclose the state where they will be at the time of the appointment. This is because some states have waived licensing laws to allow medical professionals to provide certain services across state borders, Pittman said.
“About half the states in our country have waived their licensing laws, which means that a provider that’s sitting in North Carolina that is not licensed in, say, South Carolina, can do the telehealth visit and that’s OK,” Pittman said.
The current list of medical services that qualify for telehealth services at Campus Health includes: depression and anxiety; dermatological matters such as acne, rashes or other skin conditions; pink eye; conjunctivitis; seasonal allergies; rhinitis; sinusitis; upper respiratory infections; cold and flu symptoms; urinary tract infections; and certain gynecological services — such as birth control, vaginitis symptoms and contraception refills.
