Can I see a doctor by video rather than in-person?

Yes, in many cases. Many symptoms and conditions can be cared for via video visits, including most follow up care for ongoing conditions, and even care for new symptoms that pop up. Just like an in-person visit, a video visit is a scheduled appointment with a provider – using secure video conferencing technology. All you need is 15 minutes, a smartphone or tablet, and a quiet, private location.

What are you doing to clean and disinfect?

John Muir Health follows the cleaning and disinfection guidelines recommended by the CDC and California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), as well as additional instructions from our John Muir Health infection prevention specialists.  

Are staff and patients required to wear masks?

For the protection of all, everyone who enters a John Muir Health facility is required to wear a medical face mask while in our facilities, including staff, physicians, volunteers, patients and visitors. 

Are you screening people before they enter facilities?

Before entering any of our facilities, all visitors undergo routine symptom screening.

In accordance with the California Department of Public Health’s Public Health Order, visitors entering our hospitals must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof (COVID vaccine card or digital record) or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the last 48 hours to enter the hospital.

Can patients have visitors in the hospital?

We remain committed to meeting the needs of our patients while maintaining the safest possible environment for our staff and visitors. All visitors must adhere to the following with no exceptions:

• Visitors must wear a JMH issued face covering over their nose and mouth at all times. No cloth masks allowed. No exceptions. 
• Visitors will be asked to only visit in their assigned patient area. 
• Visitors who have been exposed to a Covid+ or a suspected Covid+ person may not visit for 10 days after exposure.

• Visitors must be 12 years or older.
  
• Visitors must perform hand hygiene upon entering and exiting the patient’s room.  Visitors must wear a JMH issued face covering over their nose and mouth at all times. No cloth masks allowed. No exceptions.
• Visitors are not allowed to eat or drink in patient rooms.
• We will not be storing food brought from the outside for patients.
• If you need to wait outside of a patient room, you must either wait outside the hospital or in a designated waiting room.
• Timing of visitation may be adjusted by the unit leadership for special circumstances, especially at end of life and/or when patient first being admitted to the unit from the Emergency Department or other location.

Can patients bring someone with them to appointments at physician offices, Urgent Care Centers or the Behavioral Health Center, Outpatient Services facility?

For the safety of our patients, visitors, physicians and staff, we continue to adjust visitation guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 across our outpatient care locations. Our precautions are consistent with the guidelines issued by the California Department of Public Health, as well as Contra Costa and neighboring counties. 

• All patients and visitors must follow proper infection prevention practices, including masking, hand sanitizing and physical distancing from others not part of their group at all times while in the building.
• At point of entry, all patients and visitors accompanying patients, regardless of vaccination status, will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms. 
• Two designated visitors, not necessarily from the same household, may accompany a patient during an outpatient visit or procedure, if needed, to: 
  • Help facilitate care or treatment; 
  • Assist patient with wheelchair, walking, translation, or other care/support;  
  • Facilitate complex care decisions.
• Two parents/guardians, not necessarily from the same household, are permitted to accompany pediatric patients during outpatient visits.