Eyeworld

44 | EYEWORLD | APRIL 2020 COVID-19 NEWS YOU CAN USE by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director The 13-week cash-flow forecast helps establish an understanding of the flow of cash through a business on a daily and then weekly basis. This decision-making tool will help you make critical decisions based on "grounded data points," Mr. Maller said. "Once you have the forecast, a sense of where cash is coming from, you've got to man- age it—and manage it the right way," Mr. Maller said, adding that you've got to be dialed in to your customers, your accounts receivable, and accounts payable. Mr. Maller also described legislation that could benefit employees and businesses. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) applies to companies with less than 500 employees. Under this act, full-time employees can receive up to 80 hours of paid sick leave and expanded paid childcare leave for reasons related to COVID-19, Mr. Maller explained; there are measures for part-time employees as well. Employers receive 100% credit for this paid leave and associated health insurance costs, as well as no payroll tax liability, and those self-employed receive equivalent credit, Mr. Maller said. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Econom- ic Security (CARES) Act includes a new Small Business Administration loan program that is designed to encourage employee retention at this time. Any small business with less than 500 employees (including sole proprietors, indepen- dent contractors, and self-employed) is eligible to apply for a loan, using it for payroll, debt B usinesses across the board are hurting in the COVID-19 crisis. Among them are medical practices, especially those that provide primarily elective proce- dures, now indefinitely postponed. Cataract surgery, though the most common outpatient surgical pro- cedure in the U.S. with the ability to improve vision and quality of life, is still considered elective, as are a variety of other ophthalmic procedures. 1,2 When the novel coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) became a pan- demic, many governing bodies advised or mandated postponement of elective surgeries, bringing everyone from small private practices to large academic ophthalmology departments to a near halt. Many practice owners might be wondering what they should be doing now, how to not only survive this crisis as a business but, as Bruce Maller said in a late March webinar, come out the other side and thrive. "What we're experiencing right now, clearly, it's unprecedented," Mr. Maller said in the webinar. While the world is going through uncharted waters, Mr. Maller said he is seeing encouraging signs of "firming" in the market- place and has been impressed by the energy he is seeing, which he described as a "combination of human ingenuity … as well as basic decency and kindness." Mr. Maller described three things practice leaders should focus on now to make it through the COVID-19 crisis. Protect the integrity of your business This, Mr. Maller said, includes assembling a core team to develop an action plan and communi- cation strategy; developing a 13-week cash-flow forecast; preserving and locating cash (operat- ing revenue, retained earnings, lines of credit, etc.); aggressively managing cash flow includ- ing accounts receivable and accounts payable; communicating with a sense of empathy with landlords, lenders, and vendors; and taking advantage of new legislative initiatives. ASCRS NEWS Practices face the COVID-19 crisis About the source Bruce Maller Founder, CEO BSM Consulting Incline Village, Nevada continued on page 46 "We're going to come back out of this on the other side, and we're going to be better for this experience." —Bruce Maller

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