Q: How is the pandemic affecting you and your staff personally?
On a sliding scale, there are varying degrees of emotional distress to us all as we are trying to navigate our way through these uncertain times. The care of our patients, our staff members and families cause an emotional disturbance even to the most optimistic person. At our practice, a long-term strategy for sustainability has become a central focus point. We continue to have a healthy skeptical concern about what will happen once the crisis is over: Will payers pull back telemedicine parity payments? Will practices that accept loans or financial support be fined or audited because of unestablished and unclear auditing, reporting and accounting guidelines beforehand? Will we be able to demonstrate to payers that through it all, rheumatology practices are a central part of patient-centered care?
Using telemedicine as part of rheumatology practice moving forward may seem less than ideal without the physical examination component. However, with some coordinated effort, we are realizing that anything we can do on the technical innovation side to speed the amount of time for patient accessibility, treatment therapy and clear ability to demonstrate better outcomes has a place in value-based care. There is no doubt patient satisfaction will increase as patients have expressed appreciation at easing their fears during these uncertain times.
Carina Stanton is a freelance science journalist based in Denver.
