Our Cardiology practice just had a telephone conference call regarding our response to the virus.
We were one of the earliest practices to respond and among the best prepared to deal with the changes needed to keep our staff and our patients healthy.
WHAT MAKES THIS VIRUS DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER?
1. It is much more easily passed from one host to others. One host generally passes it on to three others.
2. The virus is spread even before the host knows they are sick.
3. Aerosolized virus particles generally enter through the nose and eyes. Masks will not fully protect you from the virus. Goggles are needed as well.
No one in our practice has tested positive for the virus but 4 are under quarantine, one after close contact with a positive individual prior to the offices being closed.
All 75+ Cardiologist have agreed to not be paid for the first two weeks the offices are closed. All other staff will be paid. That being said, it disheartening to say that we just don’t know when our offices will open, 2 weeks of closure we still just don’t know... So there will be some hardship.
Diagnostic testing will open first, at select sites, only for those select, high-suspicion, nonemergency heart patients.
The key problem is that protection supplies for health personal (and patient protection) are hard to obtain at this time so even the opening date for the labs is uncertain.
Reimbursement for telephone doctor visits is not generally recognized by insurance companies. We have attempted video visits but almost all patients are having incompatibility problems, software or hardware issues, patients are unable to connect.
Rob
We were one of the earliest practices to respond and among the best prepared to deal with the changes needed to keep our staff and our patients healthy.
WHAT MAKES THIS VIRUS DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER?
1. It is much more easily passed from one host to others. One host generally passes it on to three others.
2. The virus is spread even before the host knows they are sick.
3. Aerosolized virus particles generally enter through the nose and eyes. Masks will not fully protect you from the virus. Goggles are needed as well.
No one in our practice has tested positive for the virus but 4 are under quarantine, one after close contact with a positive individual prior to the offices being closed.
All 75+ Cardiologist have agreed to not be paid for the first two weeks the offices are closed. All other staff will be paid. That being said, it disheartening to say that we just don’t know when our offices will open, 2 weeks of closure we still just don’t know... So there will be some hardship.
Diagnostic testing will open first, at select sites, only for those select, high-suspicion, nonemergency heart patients.
The key problem is that protection supplies for health personal (and patient protection) are hard to obtain at this time so even the opening date for the labs is uncertain.
Reimbursement for telephone doctor visits is not generally recognized by insurance companies. We have attempted video visits but almost all patients are having incompatibility problems, software or hardware issues, patients are unable to connect.
Rob
