I have really admired how well my current workplace has led us through the coronavirus pandemic. As soon as the coronavirus was spreading in China, my job formed a Covid19 committee. This committee kept us up to date with the most recent news.
Once the coronavirus started spreading in the USA, we prepared to start screening all of our patients via phone when confirming appointments. We put a ‘gatekeeper’ at the front door to check everyone’s temperature when walking into the building – both patients and employees.
We also converted the majority of our office visits to phone visits within a week. Since our patient population are all 65 years old or older with multiple comorbidities, they are high risk for complications from the virus. Thus, we needed them to stay home as much as possible.
My clinic meets on a daily basis about the coronavirus and the impact on our clinic flow. For instance, we learned how many test kits we have and when we should utilize testing. We discussed screening patients and when we should try management at home versus sending them to the emergency room.
In addition, we have weekly corporate wide virtual meetings to discuss the latest research findings about the virus and treatment options. Management has been clear about which employees can work from home and who needs to come into the clinic. They have been flexible with employees that need to work from home due to lack of child care or have health risks making them susceptible to the virus.
I respect that my job always has a plan in place and are quick to adapt. I have spoken to a lot of my friends that also work in healthcare, and how there has been limited guidance from their jobs. Many people think that healthcare is a secure career during this time, but actually it is not.
Many physicians have had to close their offices as non-urgent visits and elective surgeries are cancelled. These offices will remain closed for an indefinite period of time. As a result, there will be limited income for both the practice and their employees.
I have a friend that is a Dentist who was furloughed. Other peers that are specialty physicians were let go from their practice. Not to mention many older internists resigned from the hospital due their risk of health complications from the coronavirus.
I believe there is only security in the healthcare field if you are a nurse or physician that works in the hospital and does not rely on elective procedures. I have seen the demand for RN’s in NYC increase drastically. They are willing to pay ICU travel nurses the income of a physician!
Since my current job does not practice fee for service care, we are financially secure. We bill through Medicare advantage plans. Meaning we are paid a lump sum of money per patient per quarter from the health insurance – not per visit. In that case, we are able to manage our patients virtually and still profit from that. In fact, the profit from last year is already on hand to pay for costs of this year.
I have been really impressed working for this company during such a time of chaos. The fact that they are also financially secure, and will not be laying off any of their employees is a plus. With the inevitable recession coming, I may have to rethink my work goals.
