AS I SEE IT
BY CATHLEEN M. MCCABE, MD
The world has changed rapidly and profoundly for all of us. Every aspect of our lives has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
We have fundamentally changed how we think, how we behave and how we do business. As a global population, we will be defined in history by how we respond to these challenges and how we might create opportunities as we move forward.
The Outpatient Ophthalmic Sur- gery Society (OOSS) recently sur- veyed members and colleagues to determine their attitudes, perceptions and concerns as ophthalmic ASCs and related practices emerge from COVID- 19 closure, resume patient care and stabilize their business.
Though the COVID-19 crisis tested our limits, ophthalmic ASC physi- cian-owners and leaders learned that they are resilient. As of August, 100 percent of the ophthalmic ASCs who responded to the survey have reopened, while a few remained open during the crisis to treat emergent and urgent cases throughout the closure imposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medic- aid Services (CMS). An overwhelming majority, 81.5 percent, of the OOSS survey respon- dents expected to be at pre-COVID case volume level by August, within three months of the full-scale reopen- ing of their ASCs. And 32 percent had already reached pre-crisis case volume level within 30 to 45 days of reopening. “The surgical schedule filled up quickly with patients whose proce- dure had been cancelled in March or April,” said an executive of an ASC in Kansas City, Missouri. “Some patients were anisometropic, having had their
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first cataract surgery prior to the shut- down and awaiting the second eye. Our administrators and nurse directors worked together to prioritize cases and adjust schedules while implementing COVID-19 safety protocols to address the backlog of surgeries as safely and as efficiently as possible.”
The engagement of physicians, administrators and staff was instru- mental to resuming the ASCs’ perfor- mance and was critical to providing the best patient surgical care and out- comes. The COVID-19 crisis neces-
ASC FOCUS OCTOBER 2020 |
ascfocus.org
sitated drastic human resource man- agement solutions, including layoffs and furloughs, although 84.38 percent of survey respondents were back to 90–100 percent of pre-crisis staffing levels by August.
Bringing teams back to the ASC, training them on new COVID-19 safety guidelines, protocols, proce- dures and accountabilities was chal- lenging, especially while working remotely. The survey respondents stated that their ASC-specific plan was developed by administrators, nurse directors and medical direc- tors working collaboratively with
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