Virtual care changes the urgent care experience in a way that helps patients get better faster, and helps dentists see more patients safely. Here's the experience of a patient who used Wally's virtual care offering during COVID.
In early April, Allison's jaw was in severe pain and starting to swell. She called her dentist and left a voice message, but hadn't heard back in over 24 hours. She then called an emergency service at a large dental chain who said they would forward her information to a patient care coordinator to set up an emergency visit. But by day three, Allison hadn't heard back from her dentist or the chain. And the pain was becoming intolerable.
That's when she connected with Wally. Allison chatted with our Care Team about her jaw and her concern: not only was the pain crippling, Allison wanted to make sure she didn't have to go into a dentist office unless absolutely necessary to avoid potential exposure to COVID.
Realizing this was an urgent case, we connected her to a local dentist, Dr. Simms, for a virtual visit within hours. Dr. Simms evaluated Allison over a video call and established it was likely an infection. They scheduled an appointment for later that week, and when they got off the video call Dr. Dimms called in Allison's antibiotic prescription to her pharmacy.
A few days later, Dr. Simms removed Allison's infected tooth. The visit was streamlined because Dr. Simms had already talked to Allison and established potential courses of action. Plus, Allison sent in her information virtually through Wally, making the in-office visit an almost touch-free experience for Allison … minus the tooth of course.
Virtual care reinvents the entire dental care experience
COVID has made the already frustrating experience of getting urgent dental care a non-starter for patients who want to get care fast, and minimize time in medical settings. Dentists are also ready for a change as they need to respond to patients needs while using their chair time as efficiently as possible.
Solutions like ours create a new, end-to-end experience for patients and dentists.
Patients with a Wally's virtual care membership can chat directly (and immediately) with our Care Team about any dental question big or small. For urgent cases like Allison's, Wally coordinates a virtual dental visit within hours. During the virtual visit, dentists can understand what's going on and develop a strategy to address the issue with a single office visit. Now a patient can resolve their issue in hours or days, not weeks.
Patients have a better, faster experience to resolve their dental pain. Dentists are able to drive efficiencies in their practice by incorporating virtual care - like reducing the use of PPE and seeing more patients throughout the day using virtual visits.
We're excited to be partnering with dentists across 35 states (and counting) to incorporate virtual care into their practices, and provide seamless and even delightful experiences for their patients.
If you're interested in learning more about our virtual care memberships, just tap the chat button below.
