Swift: Penn State Health stands up online, phone systems for vaccine scheduling
David Swift, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Penn State Health, emailed employees across the health system Thursday announcing a new system for the public to directly schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments with Penn State Health online or by phone:
I am writing to share a timely update on our public vaccination efforts. As you may be aware, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) issued last week a new requirement that, by Friday, Feb.19, health systems must allow all members of the public to directly schedule vaccination appointments without providing their patients priority access. Later today, we will announce to the public how those who are eligible under the Phase 1A criteria can directly schedule with Penn State Health online or by phone. Anyone who meets Phase 1A criteria will be able to register for an appointment online or by phone at one of four dedicated Penn State Health vaccination sites that open Monday, Feb. 22, pending vaccine availability.
Members of the public will be able to register online at vaccine-scheduler.pennstatehealth.org. Those who do not have access to the internet can schedule their appointments by calling a central scheduling number: 1-844-774-8883. Community members may find additional information related to COVID-19 and the vaccine on Penn State Health’s COVID-19 vaccination information page.
Penn State Health has placed additional staff to help answer calls given the intense demand for COVID-19 vaccination and anticipates standing up an additional call center in the coming weeks. Still, because of high demand paired with a large number of Phase 1A-eligible people and an uncertain supply, those trying to register for appointments should anticipate long wait times by phone and likely extended scheduling options online.
To date, our organization has vaccinated more than 27,000 people in accordance with the direction of the DOH’s Phase 1A. On behalf of the leadership team, I want to say thank you to the many staff members in Information Services, Scheduling and the Contact Centers, Penn State Health Medical Group and numerous other departments who have contributed to this truly herculean effort in an extremely challenging environment.
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