Recently, we asked those in the Retina community to share with us the impact that COVID-19 has had on their practices.
Here’s what we learned…
Our recent survey of Retina and multi-specialty practices provided some noteworthy insights regarding the challenges they now face. While many of the responses were as expected, they serve as a humble reminder that we are truly ‘in this together'.
Seemingly overnight, it appears that many groups took similar steps to help protect their staff, physicians, and patients while continuing to provide much-needed treatments. The Retina community’s quick response to this crisis should certainly make all of us proud.
Of those who responded, observations include:
- While practices remain operational, most have closed multiple locations
- The majority reported that patient volume has decreased by 50% or more
- Duties that have proven the most challenging aresome text
- Managing patient appointments - Purchasing additional PPE - Scheduling / Allocating staff
- There appears to have been no disruption to the Anti-VEGF medication supply chain
- More than half of practices are currently utilizing telemedicine in some fashion
- Approximately half of practices are monitoring staff and patient temperatures daily
- Practices have made significant changes to patient check-in and waiting room policies
- Many practices have had employees express concerns or refuse to work due to COVID-19
Below are the details of our survey results:
1. How many of your clinics are still serving patients?
- ALL - 38%
- LESS than 3/4 - 33%
- LESS than 1/2 - 23%
2. On average, how much has patient volume decreased over the past 3 weeks?
- 10 – 30% - 14%
- 30 – 50% - 9%
- 50% or more - 71%
- Not seeing patients - 4
3. What duties have proven to be the most challenging?
- Managing Patient Appointments - 47% ranked this first
- Purchasing Additional PPE - 42% ranked this first
- Scheduling / Allocating Staff - 51% ranked this second
4. Have you experienced any issues or delays in purchasing Anti-VEGF medications?
5. Do your physicians utilize telemedicine to communicate with patients?
6. Are you recording the temperatures of staff and patients each day?
7. What changes, if any, have been implemented in your waiting room?
- Some seating has been removed
- Family members are no longer allowed
- Patients wait outside in their cars until notified
- All of the above - 80%
8. Have any employees refused to work due to their concerns surrounding COVID-19?
