Ongoing Lessons And Thoughts While Navigating COVID-19 In Private Practice

We currently find ourselves in unimaginable circumstances but there are a few thoughts I find myself returning to again and again over these last few weeks.

• It is now more important than ever to be a member of the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) and your state organization. Our organizations are truly working hard to help us all get through this and are a wealth of information. 
• It is heartening to see how supportive PICA is, even for non-PICA policy holders. It is important for each of us to be in close contact with our malpractice insurance companies to make sure we are adequately protected during these unusual times. 
• If you have not done so already, it is important to call vendors, banks, etc. associated with your practice to see what accommodations they may be able to make under the circumstances. Companies are reaching out to their clients to offer assistance. 
• My next step is to double down on my accounts receivable from insurance companies and accounts receivable for patients who are working and receiving their paycheck. 
• Telemedicine is an asset and may change how we interact with patients in the post-COVID-19 world. My personal opinion is that patient demand will cause the insurance companies to adopt telemedicine. 

Our day-to-day office experience is certainly different than it was prior to COVID-19. We are seeing our urgent cases and emergencies with the goal of keeping patients out of the ER. We also serve a significant amount of essential workers and are doing our best to support them in doing their valuable work. Our patients have been completely cooperative with our protocols in the office. We have shut down the waiting room and have patients wait in their cars, calling them when we are able to get them directly into a treatment room. 

We are seeing significantly less patients overall and the quiet due to the decreased patient volume and less phone calls can be disconcerting. I play upbeat music in the office to fill the quiet. 

I try to reassure the staff as I know they rely on their paychecks and are nervous. I take my responsibility to them very seriously and do not want to let them down. I am working very hard to ensure their security but office hours have been reduced due to the drop in volume. As a result, I encourage them to apply for supplemental unemployment. I also check daily that they are still comfortable working in the current environment. 

I worry about my family and their health. My immediate family, my husband, daughter and son-in-law, are all teaching from home. My younger daughter left Queens and came to our house when “shelter in place” began in San Francisco as we thought it was imminent in New York and worried she would be confined to her apartment. She works for Memorial Sloan Kettering and now has been deployed to the hospital from her actual job of Scientist Researcher and Editor. I am fortunate to have the space to accommodate my family working from home, and to have a yard and some outdoor space to allow everyone to get some outside time. This way, we won’t drive each other crazy or at least not as much. 

I worry about my parents who are elderly, especially my mother, who is a chemotherapy patient. I worry about my mother-in-law, who has a significant cardiac history. We are not visiting them and it has taken us weeks to convince them to stay in the house. 

I worry it will take me years to recover financially. I always joke that I will turn to dust in the office and the staff should just vacuum me up in the Dyson. That may be my reality. I am going through a lot of Tums. The fruit-flavored ones taste great! Honestly, I am limiting my worry time as best as I can. 

I am thankful every minute that everyone I know is healthy, that I have a roof over my head and have food, electricity, heat, water and clean air. We overlook how fortunate we are in this country and our wonderful quality of life. 

My personal plan is to limit news to 20 minutes of CNN in the morning, the New York Times daily and a daily news podcast. However, I do sneak in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefing as well as the White House briefing when I can. For a news junkie, this is quite an accomplishment. 

I focus on staying positive. I am increasing the duration and frequency of my workouts. I am only watching fun, uplifting television. I am trying to get outside every day. I am trying to check in with people I know every day. I am thanking the people that keep the country running every day: delivery personnel, postal workers, maintenance personnel in the hospital, grocery store and pharmacy workers, etc. 

Stay strong everyone. Stay positive, stay safe and stay healthy. 

Dr. Langone is a Diplomate of the American Board of Podiatric Medicine and the Co-Vice President of the American Association for Women Podiatrists. She is a Fellow and Past President of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine. She is in private practice in Southampton, NY.