How MPCP is Keeping You Safe During Office Visits

At the peak of the coronavirus lockdown, MPCP was seeing close to 80% of patients by telemedicine. Now, as we have transitioned back to regular office visits, we are taking every precaution to make sure you stay healthy and safe during appointments. Here are some of the things we’re doing to protect patients while continuing to meet all of your primary care needs.

Phone evaluation: Safety starts before your visit. All patients calling for appointments are asked screening questions for Covid-19. Those who have symptoms are given telemedicine visits with providers to see if testing is needed.

Check-in:  We make check-in safer by requiring all staff and patients to wear masks. After you check in, if it’s not yet time for your appointment, you may be asked to wait in your car to avoid possible exposure in the waiting room. We then call you in for your appointment.

Outdoor appointments for patients with symptoms: Patients are screened over the phone for respiratory/Covid-19 symptoms. At our Arnold office, for example, those with symptoms are scheduled for outdoor appointments at special, covered stations set up in the practice parking lot, with providers and staff wearing full PPE. If patients are suspected to have Covid-19, they are tested at the outdoor station and don’t enter the building.

Arrival screening: Patients arriving at our offices are checked for Covid-19 symptoms. At our Pasadena office, for example, patients enter through one set of doors where they are asked screening health questions and have their temperature taken. They are taken directly into exam rooms that are sanitized between each patient. They exit through separate doors.

Ongoing cleaning: For your safety, all of our offices’ waiting rooms are regularly sanitized, and exam rooms are disinfected between each patient.

Central Laboratory testing: Testing supplies are limited, so only patients meeting CDC guidelines for coronavirus infection are eligible for Covid-19 testing. For patients who are eligible to be tested and do not want to, or are unable to, be tested at their MPCP office, the test — a nasal swab – can be done in the parking lot of our Central Laboratory at our Arundel Mills office. However, all MPCP patients can get antibody testing, which requires a blood draw and shows whether you had a Covid-19 infection in the past. In both cases, results are available the next business day.

Our staff is working hard to make sure you receive the medical care you and your family need in a clean and safe environment. You can schedule an appointment at any of our offices knowing that you will receive quality care in the safest way possible. Please call your MPCP office seen if you have questions.