UPMC Expands Telehealth Network to Offer Access to Pediatric Specialists

UPMC is expanding its telehealth network to offer more access to pediatric specialists.

The Pittsburgh-based health system announced that it’s now offering virtual care appointments for families in central Pennsylvania with UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, which features more than 400 physicians across 33 specialties.

“This collaboration is giving our patients superior access to quality pediatric specialty care,” Ashley Pence, DO, medical director of pediatrics at UPMC of North Central Pennsylvania, said in a press release. “We are harnessing telemedicine technology to offer virtual specialty care appointments where children can receive care tailored to their individual needs.”  

“We are bringing nationally ranked pediatric subspecialty care to families in Lycoming County and the surrounding areas,” added Michael Communale, executive administrator of ambulatory and physician services at UPMC Children’s. “We continue to effectively use telemedicine technology and other resources to keep families connected to their providers easily and enhance specialty care needed closer to home.”

The announcement is a familiar one in connected health circles, as leading health systems across the country use the platform to extend their brand and their reach. Aside from appointments with families for specialty care, these platforms are being used to facilitate eConsults with primary care providers in rural and remote locations, as well as for second opinions and follow-up care.

UPMC Children’s, in fact, recently expanded its telemedicine platform for emergency pediatric consults, announcing in July that two hospitals – UPMC Passavant-McCandless and UPMC Passavant-Cranberry - can access specialists on a real-time audio-visual platform at any time for emergency department consults.