DOING BUSINESS
BY DAN KOHL
While the COVID-19 pan- demic is far from over, the ASC industry is find- ing innovative ways to get back to the business of
handling procedures unrelated to the virus. I recently had the opportunity to talk to two gastroenterology sur- geons, Jeff Williams, MD, a surgeon- owner at Athens Gastroenterology in Athens, Georgia, and George Jen- kins, MD, another surgeon-owner at Carolina Digestive Disease/Palmetto Endoscopy in Columbia, South Caro- lina. We discussed strategies GI sur- geons are deploying to get back to pre- COVID-19 case levels, and what they are doing to maximize efficiency and profitability along the way. Williams told me that during the past three months, his case numbers decreased dramatically. “People were afraid to come in because of COVID- 19,” he said, “so we quickly pivoted to telemedicine and developed new protocols. To get back to fully func- tioning, we had to ensure the safety of the patient first and foremost.” Jenkins added, “We are taking
every precaution: checking tempera- tures before people enter the build- ing and ensuring that all staff are wearing N95 masks; the patients wear masks, and the family members do not come into the waiting room. The physicians actually go out to the parking lot with a mask on to talk to the family member about the results of the procedure.”
One lasting side effect of the COVID- 19 pandemic might well be the rise of telemedicine. Healthcare IT News reports that nearly three-quar- ters of Americans surveyed said they
One lasting side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic might well be the rise of telemedicine.”
—Dan Kohl, Care Plus Anesthesia Management
would consider using telehealth to be remotely screened for COVID-19, and two-thirds said the pandemic has increased their willingness to try vir- tual care. Both Williams and Jenkins identified telemedicine early on as an essential tool for their ASCs in the
18 ASC FOCUS SEPTEMBER 2020 |
ascfocus.org
face of the pandemic. While neither used telehealth prior to the pandemic, both see a role for it going forward. “Medicine is a slow-moving vehi- cle and COVID-19 basically put the foot on the accelerator to move tele- medicine forward,” Williams said. “I
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