EOCC MEDICAL CITY What Comes Next: Reopening Healthcare Facilities

EAST ORLANDO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CALENDAR:

Virtual Menu Includes: Virtual Scattergories After Horus

Featuring Alzheimer’s Association

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020 4:30 – 5:30 PM

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The Member Academy: Roadmap to Member Success

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2020 9:00 – 10:00 AM

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How to Create Irresistible Offers with Will Perry

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2020 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

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EOCC Advocacy Advisory Council Meeting

FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2020 10:00 – 11:00 AM

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EOCC 2020 Debate Orange County District 5

TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2020 6:00 – 7:00 PM

Streaming on Social Media

Virtual Chamber Luncheon: Intergenerational Engagement with Ann Beecham

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2020 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

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Non-Profit Council Roundtable: Revenue Generation Through 3rd Party Fundraising

EOCC Member Exclusive

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2020 9:00 – 10:00 AM

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Latte with Leaders

EOCC Member Exclusive conversation with your Orange County Political leaders

What Comes Next:

Reopening Healthcare Facilities

BY DOROTHY HARDEE

COVID-19 is causing us to have to rethink how we are doing business in 2020.

No doubt, it is the single greatest disruption of our lifetime. A few months ago, healthcare providers locked down their facilities to prevent the spread of the virus, shutting down key clinical service lines and canceling patient appointments keeping in line with federal and local government guidelines.

With a month of Phase 2 under our belts and everyone anxious to get the economy moving, it is not easy for healthcare facilities to simply flip a switch and resume normal operations. During the East Orlando Chamber’s June Healthcare Council Collaborative Virtual Meet & Greet hosted by The Bridge at Orlando, healthcare professionals were given an opportunity to discuss areas of concern in facilitated breakout rooms.

Each small group addressed employee safety, protocols and any back-up plan in the event of an employee diagnosis. They also discussed how the practice was using technology and telehealth to connect with patients in addition to any challenges encountered by patients or staff. Finally, from the marketing perspective, how they were connecting with patients to reschedule visits and procedures. Plus, if staff was having to take on multiple roles to build the book of business and any incentives to encourage success.

As participants shared feedback highlights from each breakout, the takeaways were impressive. We expected adherence to the CDC guidelines with social distancing, temperature checks and masks. But some went further to ensure overall safety to include using cars as a waiting area or preliminary room for a brief doctor visit. Doorbells were installed to alert staff of a visitor before entering the facility. One person per elevator was implemented, as well as stairwell sanitation, something few had considered. While we have seen an uptick in the number of practices using Telehealth, there were still several seeking to determine the best platform for the practice and patients.

The greatest discussion surrounded small practices and need to be proactive in prevention measures since an outbreak would close their entire business. Dr. Colin Bartoe, Functional Neurology Chiropractic Center, and his team are diligent about temperature checks, sanitation measures, using technology when possible, masking and communicating the need to self-quarantine if anyone is feeling poorly. For larger systems dealing with surgery or major procedures, patients are required to have a pre-surgical COVID test to ensure they are virus free. If a patient fails to have the test, the procedure is automatically cancelled. Any positive results would require a 14- day quarantine followed by a COVID test afterwards to clear the patient.

As for Marketing, attendees were hungry for ways in which to connect with patients leveraging technology and target marketing opportunities. While email is the quickest form of communication, it is by no means the best as we all get inundated with a record number of email communications daily. It was recommended to reach out to possibly 5-10 patients daily to begin building your book of business. This would result in a touchpoint of 50 patients weekly with approximately 20-25 scheduling appointments.

Given the feedback from our event, it made me wonder how others are dealing and possibly thriving during this crisis. The Harvard Business Review looked at how Geisinger Health System is moving away from their pre-

EOCC || MEDICAL CITY CONTINUED ...

vious business model, embracing a strategic and operational innovative approach rather than a damage-mitigation exercise focused on solely restoring revenues. They have implemented in-house patient and employee testing to prevent transmission, as well as dedicated staff for contact tracing. They have ramped up Telehealth visits going from 40 per day to more than 4,000 per day, and waving co-payment associated with these visits for their members, helping to shift patient perception. They encourage use of a mail-order prescription service resulting in cost reductions and greater adherence by patients. In addition, the use of work-from-home capabilities has expanded their talent pool and reduced costs for real estate from administrative space to clinical space.

Geisinger has promoted the transition to a value-based payment model rewarding prevention and good outcomes rather than increased procedures. COVID-19 shows us that if it is to be, the transition must be meaningful and well beyond what has been seen to date. What are your thoughts on the focus of prevention and good outcomes? Is this a model your practice could embrace to weather a similar crisis in the future? Be part of our next Healthcare Council Collaborative when we offer a Virtual peer to peer referral forum and breakout for Central Florida physicians. Mark your calendar for Thursday, August 6th at 8:00 AM to participate.

The East Orlando Chamber has launched a NEW opportunity for EOCC Members to address the need for direct primary care. We have partnered with Avalon Insurance Services, Inc. to offer exclusively for members and employees of those companies a Direct Primary Care (DPC) program. The DPC membership model (Healthcare 2U) provides affordable and convenient access to excellent primary medical care, wellness, and chronic disease management for individuals ages 2 to 65. It also accepts pre-existing conditions within management ranges.

Through this proprietary Private Physician Network (PPN), it is breaking down the barriers to convenient access to quality primary care with a focus on promoting healthy living while preventing disease. In addition to doctor visits, urgent care visits and annual physicals with four labs plus unlimited chronic disease management for 13 chronic disease states (within manageable range), the plan also offers Telehealth services online or by phone 24/7/365. The plan has a prescription benefit program covering over 200 medications for $1 each and a list of others between $5 and $10, saving you big.

Healthcare2U is not insurance. It provides an annual healthcare membership based on the Direct Primary Care model consisting of a flat and affordable fee. The program is available nationwide. For those with no insurance, this is a great option.

Need more? Check out the Clever RX Prescription Savings Card for EOCC members, saving you up to 80 percent on prescription drugs at virtually all major pharmacies.

For those concerned about membership renewals, we offer a payment options for most of our levels so you can continue investing in your business. Give us a call at 407- 277-5951. We are working remotely, but always available by phone, email or virtually.

Remember, we are in this together and the East Orlando Chamber is thinking differently for members. #EOCCCares.

Dorothy Hardee is the administrator of the East Orlando Chamber of Commerce.

CONTINUED ... Vicki Garner, LMHC

shamed on social media, therefore making them feel worse.

Those who have actually lost jobs feel despair and worthlessness, hopelessness and that all is lost.

OMN: Are the stories you are hearing generalized and/or non-specific or somewhat detailed revealing that people have been spending a lot of time focusing on their fears?

Garner: Every story is different. People process their fears and anxieties based on their coping skills. One person may have a good support system with good coping skills and needs some additional time and a few additional tools to get through this rough time. Others are completely shattered and need a complete array of services to learn how to cope one step at a time. There is no cookie cutter approach to treatment for people who are experiencing anxiety due to any reason.

OMN: How is the feeling of loss of control over one’s life playing a part?

Garner: Loss of control is one of the worst feelings a human being can feel. Some individuals have a higher tolerance for experiencing it than others. When someone cannot tolerate the feeling, they may feel anxious, sad, depressed or completely despondent. If attempts to take control of one’s life don’t work or aren’t possible, like during the times of a pandemic when quarantines are in place and jobs are furloughed or lost, this may make some individuals very prone to these feelings. They should seek professional counseling and talk about ways to learn to cope with them. If they don’t, they may turn to alcohol or drugs or other self-destructive methods to cope which do much more harm in the long run.

OMN: What part does pre-COVID PTSD in patients play in the current situation for those patients?

Garner: COVID in and of itself would not cause PTSD but could exacerbate someone who had preexisting trauma or PTSD. If a person has experienced trauma surrounding isolation, being sick, hospitalized or losing loved ones this virus could trigger those past traumas and make the memories come back causing the associated feelings or symptoms to return. If a person has been diagnosed with PTSD and has not had successful treatment to resolve it, then isolation, job loss, being quarantined with someone or people you don’t necessarily want to be with could cause PTSD symptoms to return, such as insomnia, exaggerated startle response, anxiety, depression, hypervigilance or substance abuse to name a few. If you or someone you know is suffering with these symptoms it is very important to seek professional help as soon as possible to keep these symptoms from getting worse and to alleviate suffering.

OMN: What are signs for family members and healthcare workers to look for that indicate normal anxiety has turned into something more serious and threatening?

Garner: When anything a person is doing that interferes with their normal daily activities of life, then that becomes time for family and friends to worry. Is the person not sleeping, or eating? Is he or she excessively talking about the virus or staying up all day or night on the internet researching conspiracy theories? If they say or do anything that appears they are thinking of hurting themselves or someone else, you must get help immediately. But, if their anxieties or worries are just that, normal worries about this scary virus that we all have around us, then let them talk about it. It is scary, it is something we all have to deal with and it is awful. If they continue to do what they have to do, go to work if they have a job, care for themselves, their house, their kids or dog if they have them and seem overall ok, then let them be. Eventually we will all be ok, someday.

OMN: What are the treatments/drugs being prescribed to help people cope, especially those who have previously not relied on pharmaceutical support?

Garner: For short term, situational anxiety related to job loss, the economy and societal issues, it would be unlikely that pharmaceutical support would be the first line of treatment. Evidence-based practice calls for a variety of counseling techniques to assist a person in building coping skills and reframing situations to assist in symptom reduction. Only in an extreme situation of a severe panic attack resulting in hospitalization would a short-term medication regime possibly be recommended. The majority of anti-anxiety medications are highly addictive and are only for very short-term use. If anti-depressants are called for, it would be after a diagnosis of major depressive disorder for over six months.

OMN: Is the reopening of the economy creating its own set of issues for patients who now fear going out?

Garner: Reopening the economy is not a problem for the patients who fear going out. They will continue to stay home and are well advised to do so, if they can. Absolutely nothing has changed with the virus or how it is spread. The world is opening back up specifically for the economy, nothing else. People who go out risk getting sick and those who fear going out know that. They are the ones who won’t get sick.

OMN: What are you seeing in terms of anxiety, fear and burnout in our healthcare workers and what are you advising them?

Garner: These are the people we need to worry about most. They are on the front lines, day in and day out. They are the healers, the counselors and caregivers. They work even when they aren’t working. They see it all, hear it all and take it home each night. We need to take care of them and remind them we are here for them. They need respite and love. We advise them to take care of themselves and rest when they can.