Telehealth Instructions for Dr. Steadman

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To follow CDC guidelines and reduce social contact, I will be temporarily offering telepsychology services to patients during the current Coronavirus public health emergency. To utilize telepsychology, simply call our office at (423)825-4040 and inform staff that you would like to schedule (or change your appointment to) a telepsychology or telehealth appointment. From there, they will provide you instructions on how to use the technology.

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I will be using doxy.me software for telepsychology appointments. To access my virtual waiting room, go to https://doxy.me/drsteadmanchattpeds approximately 10-15 minutes before your scheduled appointment. This will give you time to familiarize yourself with the software and set up your microphone and camera. Please do inform us prior to logging in so that I know to expect you (in other words, we must know in advance if you wish to use telepsychology software).

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Before beginning telepsychology, you must also read and sign this informed consent document agreeing to use telehealth. Please do take the time to read it, as it does contain important information about the services and how different policies apply, especially with regard to fees, insurance payment, and location requirements. After you sign it, you must email it to us at chattanoogapeds@gmail.com or fax to us at (423)825-4043. You can also email directly to me at jsteadman@hushmail.com.

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I am currently only offering this service to established patients and only for therapy. As a rule, I prefer to not perform new patient intakes via telepsychology, except under special, extenuating circumstances.

 

Regrettably, I am also temporarily suspending my psychological assessment practice until further notice. I am continuing to do a limited amount of a type of developmental evaluations (Autism Spectrum Disorder evaluations) using a completely online system. Please call my office to discuss this option if interested. 

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For in-person visits, I am also regrettably restricting access to my toys, as there is no way to follow a strict sanitization protocol for all my toys in between every visit. Thus, I will only allow your children to have contact with a select few toys which can be easily sanitized after every child.

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Lastly, if you do come for in an in-person visit, we will screen you for possible risk of potential exposure to COVID-19 and we may ask you to reschedule your appointment with me if you meet any of the risk factors.

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I do apologize in advance for the inconveniences that all of the above cause, but know that we are all in this public health emergency together and all have a duty to practice "compassionate spacing" (see my blog here) to keep everyone safe and minimize the spread of this terrible disease. Please note that all of the above only applies to me at Chattanooga Pediatrics. Our medical staff at Chatt Peds have other protocols for COVID-19. If you have an appointment with one of our medical providers, please call to ask about our new medical procedures.

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