A Letter to our Patients Regarding Procedures at Hospitals

March 18, 2020

Digestive Health Specialists of the Southeast is taking extra precautions to provide the safest environment possible to all of our patients. Beginning Monday March 23, 2020, all elective non-urgent procedures at both Southeast Health and Flowers Hospital will be canceled and rescheduled.

Dothan Surgery Center and Surgery Center South both serve as valuable resources for our community, and will now help offset the increased demand for care at the hospitals.  These ambulatory surgery centers are able to continue most procedures and surgeries while reducing the impact on needed specialty beds and resources at our local hospitals. Our physicians will continue to perform procedures at these locations until further notice. We will follow national guidelines, and recommend postponing non-urgent procedures (without symptoms) such as screening examinations. Diagnostic procedures (to investigate symptoms) will continue at this time.

If you have a procedure scheduled at a hospital, specifically Southeast Health or Flowers Hospital, we will be reaching out to you to reschedule to one of our surgery centers. If your insurance requires a procedure to be done at a hospital, we may wait to schedule your procedure until it has been declared safe to continue procedures at our local hospitals.

As the number of documented cases of Coronavirus continues to rise, we are committed to doing everything we can to continue providing quality care to our patients while taking every precaution to limit the exposure of our patients and staff to COVID-19. The health and safety of our patients and staff is our highest priority at Digestive Health Specialists.

All four of our office locations are open and currently seeing patients during normal business hours. Patients on immunosuppressive drugs for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should continue their treatments while also reducing their exposure to large groups. As of 3/16/2020, we have restructured our infusion center to allow for individualized rooms. We have also been approved for telehealth services for some commercial insurances, which allows you a virtual visit with one of our providers without having to be in the office. Please contact our office if you are interested in this service. Our insurance and billing department will be happy to see if your policy allows for telehealth services.

We encourage all of our patients to reach out to us if you have any concerns about your treatments or procedures. Guidelines are changing every day, and we are doing our part to encourage social distancing while still meeting the needs of our patients and community. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this unprecedented time. Please contact our office at (334) 836-1212 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

The Physicians and Staff at Digestive Health Specialists

Covid-19 Procedure Updates 3.18.2020