19 Steps to Prepare Your Healthcare Facility for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Since December 2019, identified cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have spread from one province in China to countries across the globe, including the United States. As the outbreak continues and the number of confirmed cases climbs, strategic planning is key to preparing your practice.
One crucial step is to review your business continuity plan. It should outline the processes and procedures that will help you continue operations during an emergency, natural disaster, pandemic, or other unexpected event.
If you have a business continuity plan, check to see that it addresses situations that could result from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s a checklist of action steps your plan should cover:
Prepare your medical practice
- Determine what internal communications are needed to keep staff informed of the outbreak and aware of your practice’s policies.
- Designate an individual to oversee your practice’s contingency plans and act as the central point of contact.
- Identify which employees at your practice are vital to operations. Can other employees be trained to fill those roles if needed?
- Find out how closures of schools or public transportation would affect your staff’s ability to report to work.
- Develop a plan for maintaining essential operations if staff are absent because of personal illness or illness in their families. Consider outsourcing your medical billing to reduce the risk of an interruption to your collections. Partnering with Greenway Revenue Services can give your practice peace of mind in knowing that your billing won’t be neglected.
Protect your staff and patients
- Share resources with your patients proactively. The World Health Organization (WHO) offers these resources for the public, including signs/infographics and informational videos.
- Create an external communications plan for updating patients on office closures and advising them when to visit your healthcare facility, instead of the emergency room (ER).
- Consider how closure of public transportation could affect your patients’ access to care.
- Determine how your practice would handle an increase in patient visits due to the outbreak.
- Ensure staff is aware of correct procedures for the transport and arrival of patients who have a confirmed or suspected coronavirus diagnosis. See this checklist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for specific guidelines.
- Implement policies to minimize exposure for providers and practice staff, such as screening patients before their visit.
- List the procedures you would follow if a member of your staff developed coronavirus symptoms.
Conduct an inventory
- Review your inventory for supplies that may see increased demand during this outbreak.
- Compile a list of additional supplies, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), that you need to purchase. View this information from the CDC to determine who needs PPE.
- Talk with your suppliers to see if they’re equipped to provide the medical supplies your practice needs. Will you need a backup supplier?
Leverage digital health solutions
- Research technology or other solutions to allow employees to work from home securely. If your practice has hosted Intergy EHR, your staff can access patient records anytime, while having the confidence that patient data is protected through real-time monitoring and anti-virus software.
- Assess what training would be needed to enable your staff to work from home.
- Evaluate whether telehealth options could allow you to continue to deliver care even if your location had to close temporarily.
- Identify ways to use your patient portal or patient messaging to answer patient questions, provide education on the virus, and communicate with patients, despite limited staff.
"Working together, we will defeat this invisible enemy and our countries will emerge from this crisis stronger for it—knowing that preparing for such crises must always be one of our top global health priorities."HHS Secretary Alex Azar, World Health Day statement
Here to support you
As you work through your business continuity plan, you may uncover gaps you lack the solutions to fill.
Whether you’re looking for a billing partner, interested in implementing a patient messaging strategy, or would like to learn about how our hosted solution can help you maintain business operations outside of the office, you can always schedule an obligation-free call with a Greenway representative. We’ll walk you through the EHR, practice management (PM), and medical billing solutions and services available to you.
We’re here to address your concerns and help determine how to prepare your practice for success, now and in the years ahead.
For more information, schedule a conversation with a Greenway representative.
