Over the past few weeks, we have slowly started to open our office. The health and well-being of our patients and staff continue to be of high importance; therefore, we have increased our already stringent standard precautions. We will continue to follow the guidelines provided by the CDC and IDPH to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Please consider what you do outside of the office and continue to practice safe social distancing.
We are now offering in-person visits in addition to Telemedicine visits and will work with you to schedule the type of appointment that works best for you.
Patients with an in-person appointment can expect to see the following measures to maximize the safety of our staff, patients, and providers:
All staff and providers will be wearing masks and gloves.
All patients will be required to wear masks.
We have reduced our appointment volume to allow for social distancing and safety for all.
We will thoroughly clean the exam room between each visit.
We have coated all of our high touch surfaces with MicrobeCare, which is an EPA registered antimicrobial solution.
All surfaces throughout the practice will be cleaned hourly or more often if needed with a medical-grade disinfectant.
We will be screening patients one day before appointments for any at-risk histories or symptoms.
All patients who enter the practice will have their temperature taken upon arrival to confirm compliance with these standards.
All staff will have their temperature taken upon arrival and periodically throughout the day.
We have marked appropriate distances on our floors throughout the practice. Please respect and abide by these markers.
Hand sanitizer stations will continue to be located throughout the office.
Wait times before appointments will be eliminated or minimized. The waiting room will be cleaned in between any waiting patients.
Intake, scheduling, and check out will be performed in a manner to encourage social distancing or via phone call after visit.
We will be deep cleaning the practice every day.
We are asking our patients to please follow these precautions for their visit:
1) Prior to each visit, we will ask you.
Have you had a body temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit or have you used a fever reducer in the previous 24 hours to treat a body temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit?
Do you have a new cough that you cannot attribute to another health condition?
Do you have a new or worsening sore throat that you cannot attribute to another health condition?
Do you have new shortness of breath that you cannot attribute to another health condition?
Have you recently developed a complete loss of smell or taste?
2) Please come to your appointment alone. A parent or legal guardian of a minor patient will be allowed with prior notice. If you need assistance from a caregiver, please let us know so that we can make the proper accommodations.
3) Please arrive at your appointment on time. We must allow adequate time between patients to sanitize the exam rooms. If you are more than a few minutes late, we may need to reschedule your appointment.
4) Maintain a safe distance. Please ensure you are maintaining a safe distance of six feet from all patients and staff while in the office except while undergoing certain treatments.
5) Fill out any required questionnaires ahead of time. Our staff will be requesting surveys and any required documents before your visit. We will email you before your visit alerting you what needs to be updated. We will not allow patients to be seen if the questionnaires are not completed, and will be rescheduling any appointments if we do not receive the necessary updates in advance. This step will minimize the amount of contact you have with our staff and the amount of time you are in the office overall.
6) Make sure you have a current credit card on file. We will only be charging the credit cards on file for these visits if a balance is due. We will NOT be accepting Cash or Checks. With a card on file, we do not need your card in hand. It will make co-pays and fee-for-service visits hands-free. (If you are unable to provide a credit card we ask that payment is made before each visit, we can accommodate Square Invoices, PayPal, etc.)
We may need to shift your appointment time by 10 or 20 min to adjust our schedule to minimize the patient volume and optimize safety. Please check your appointment time in the confirmation email/text.
We are asking all patients to comply with the above requests for the safety of all and to minimize the time in the practice. Our goal is to get every patient into their exam room straight upon arriving and immediately out the door after their visit. We must have each patient's support by following the above guidelines to accomplish this as safely as possible.
We are excited to see everyone's faces again, well, with masks on.
With much gratitude,
Chicago Spine and Sports