Overcome ‘COVID fatigue’

By James D. Dawes, MHA, COE, CMPE

As summer approached this year, we all looked forward to “getting back to normal.” But the reality of late fall 2020 is far from it. We are wearing masks, social distancing, and, for the most part, staying at home except for social functions. For many, the ongoing and drastic changes have led to “COVID fatigue,” a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual stress—and even depression.

Nonetheless, the pandemic continues. Even if the number of COVID cases remains steady, seniors and “at-risk” patients, who comprise a large percentage of eye-care practices, will likely be fearful of venturing into medical practices this winter. Our team members may be struggling with unemployed spouses, children learning at home, and at-risk parents, grandparents, and extended family members. At the same time, our physician shareholders and practices are dealing with overcoming months of lost revenues, reduced staff, completion of complicated PPP and stimulus loan forgiveness applications, and looming 2021 Medicare fee cuts.

ON THE FRONT LINES

As leaders on the front lines, there are some things to come to terms with as we move forward:

1. COVID precautions and required office sterilization processes will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
2. Most of our practices missed out on several months of revenue, and, while we may have received stimulus funds, we have a hole to dig out of. That requires us to get back to pre-COVID volumes and potentially even higher patient volumes.
3. In fact, with potential fee cuts looming and the possibility of another COVID slow-down, we must figure out how to increase clinic throughput to higher than pre-COVID levels and continue to incorporate COVID precautions and office sterilization processes.
4. Additionally, we also must work to measure and improve revenue per encounter by optimizing our professional, diagnostic, and retail services for each patient based on the diagnosis.
5. There is a shortage of trained ophthalmic clinical staff; COVID has made that worse. Recruiting from our competitors is a zero-sum game. Our practices should have an on-going training program in place to grow our own trained and loyal clinical personnel. That is going to take time and commitment.
6. As marketing budgets take a hit, we have to look at maximizing our word-of-mouth referrals through existing patient relationships, friends, families, and referring physicians. We must go the extra mile to deliver passionate and empathetic care to patients who are suffering, just like all of us.

OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

What is the silver lining in this COVID cloud? As caregivers and leaders, we have the opportunity to demonstrate empathy and support as well as to bring forth real solutions. We can bring our teams together and create a bond stronger than ever. We can show patients we care about their health and well-being. We can be creative and figure out new and innovative business and technology solutions to enhance patient flow. We can add value-added services to better serve our patients while increasing our practice’s revenue. What we cannot do is sit on the couch, watch Netflix, and wish for the good old days.

We are in the midst of a long storm with rough seas. It’s time to captain the ship through the storm. As the famous football coach Lou Holtz once said, “Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the darn ship in.” We have an opportunity. Let’s shine. OP

Mr. Dawes is the founder and president of the J. Dawes Group, www.JDawesGroup.com .