On March 15, a new clinic opened at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Adult Post-acute COVID Clinic. With no single location, the clinic is a coordinated service across adult general medicine and medical specialty clinics, with a telemedicine component to facilitate initial patient assessments in most cases.

While most patients achieve complete recovery from COVID-19 within a few weeks, some experience long-term effects. At the start of the pandemic, VUMC established a program to provide ready access to care for patients recovering at home from COVID-19. The new clinic provides additional resources for patients with lingering or late symptoms.

The clinic is expressly for adult patients who've tested positive for COVID-19, with at least four weeks having passed since their COVID diagnosis.

"Because there's been a large amount of discussion around what symptoms are attributable to long COVID, or post-acute COVID, for the time being it was best to focus this new program on those patients who have recently had confirmed acute disease," said Cecelia Theobald, MD, associate professor of Medicine and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Medicine. "The new clinic serves in part to ensure that we provide a place to hear these patients and validate their experience as we learn more about this new syndrome."