‘COVID changed all of that’ -- Lansing hospital conducts over 70,000 video visits

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to take advantage of technology which had been available, but rarely used. Video calling is perhaps the most visible of these changes.

A Mid-Michigan hospital has kept track of just how much our habits have changed when it comes to it’s use.

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Sparrow just announced that they have conducted over 70,000 video visits for patients since March of 2020, via their MySparrow app.

“What it basically means is when you look at how care was delivered before March of 2020, the only way to receive care was to pick up a telephone, call an office, hope you could get in, schedule a visit, drive and try to find a parking spot, and sit in a waiting room,” said Patrick Sustrich, Sparrow’s director of Retail Healthcare. “COVID changed all of that.”

Sparrow physicians say they like the video visits because it improves access to healthcare for the community, and allows them to see more patients. The visits are either OnDemand, where patients can see a provider immediately for more urgent situations, or scheduled video visits with their provider.

Sustrich calls them “another tool in our toolbox.”

“Sparrow currently has 369,916 patients registered on the MySparrow app,” Sparrow officials said in an email. “If these patients stood hand in hand, they would span across the width of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Video visits give them another option besides seeing their physician in person.”

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