Luminis Health offers low-cost on-demand telemedicine to surrounding community

Hard to believe that just five years ago, a developing yet rapidly worrisome, undiagnosed UTI, sinus infection, migraine or case of shingles would require a visit to the doctor. And if symptoms first appeared on a Friday night, the visit would often be an excruciating 48 hours later (or longer) -- if not already addressed by a visit to the emergency room or an urgent care facility. Thankfully, the community of Annapolis, Maryland has a far better, speedier and low-cost solution with Luminis Health CareConnectNow. Luminis Health, formerly Anne Arundel Medical Center, serves a community of 63 million people in central Maryland, from DC to Delaware.

CareConnectNow originally began as an employee benefit option to give busy clinicians and support staff a way to get same-day care in under 15 minutes. But then the pandemic hit, and the healthcare community was faced with overflowing clinics, crowded urgent care centers and overpopulated emergency rooms. To prevent sending Luminis’ patient population to areas reserved for the critically ill, or outside the organization where practices were booked several weeks out, the decision was made to expand the same-day telemedicine program to the community.

”The program quickly became an obvious solution to an overburdened healthcare system. Luminis clinical staff had already experienced the advantages of CareConnectNow as an employee benefit, and the infrastructure was already in place. CareConnectNow keep patients from utilizing high value resources for low acuity issues during the pandemic and served to ensure many ailments were immediately addressed before progressing into something more severe that would require more resources and face to face visits at a time when preventing COVID-19 transmission was paramount.” – Luminis Primary Care Physician 

For $25, patients (of any insurance status) see a provider via Doximity Dialer for minor issues and illnesses such as rashes, ear pain, seasonal allergies, acid reflux, vertigo—and other low acuity concerns—with immediate prescriptions when indicated. Patients simply go to the Luminis Health website and then call the number provided to schedule their virtual visit.

Because of the growing need and the simplicity of using Doximity Dialer for both patients and providers, Luminis has also been piloting ways to expand this program into its after-hours Primary Care Provider On-Call program.