Eyeworld

70 | EYEWORLD | OCTOBER 2020 Job hunting and contracts amid COVID-19 2020 sure has been interesting. COVID-19 has taken many ophthalmologists back to the drawing board. We obviously aren't well-equipped at managing pandemic disaster relief efforts in most of our practices. However, many of us are at least in a practice that is sustainable regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what about current residents and recent graduates? Has the time come where jobs are not as plentiful to new hires? Will you need to accept half the money in 2021 than you could have gotten in 2019? Many of this is still unknown. What we do know is that people, even in the midst of the pandemic, continue to live long lives even with serious medical comorbidities. Patients are also still eager to get their eyes seeing as best they can. My prediction is that while it's going to take some time for the dust to set- tle, normal operations will return to pre-pandemic levels sooner rather than later. I think hiring of associates and partners will still have the same formula. I think private practice will thrive in this environment like never before. It could be a lonely road that we have to travel down, but do not get discouraged if you are job seeking, the world is not ending. –Michael Patterson, DO YES Connect Co-Editor H ow will COVID-19 change the job hunt and contracts for ophthalmol- ogists? While that's starting to play out, EyeWorld got insights from Mat- thew Lowrance, DO, Eric Schneider, MD, Blake Williamson, MD, and Zachary Zavodni, MD, on this. In general, Dr. Lowrance said his practice hasn't changed in that it's always looking for good talent to join, however, recruitment is a lower priority for the time being while the focus is more on survivability. Dr. Schneider said his retina practice is still looking to hire the right candidate. He acknowl- edged that retina wasn't hit as hard with the temporary shutdown as other ophthalmology subspecialties. "We're still very busy. … In terms of contracts, contracts for us haven't changed. We're a traditional private practice—partnership track—and we're still offering to new providers entering the practice," he said. Dr. Williamson said he thinks young eye surgeons just out of residency might have to look a little harder and be willing to accept that rates of pay might be lower as hiring practices look to replace capital they lost in the initial months of the pandemic. Overall, though, he thinks they'll be able to find jobs at this time, but they might benefit from having some skills that help the bottom line as well, such as "self-scribing." "The days of EMR improved usability are upon us. Scribing has never been easier, so that could be something for young eye surgeons to consider when they do cataract, MIGS, or LASIK evals," Dr. Williamson said. In general, Dr. Williamson—who credited his brother and practice's administrator Charles Williamson Jr., with offering insights on many management-related questions for this article— said his practice, which is cooperative with ODs and MDs, is still evaluating and adding provid- ers as they normally would when the opportu- nity arises. "Our contracts for new ODs and MDs will stay similar to what they were pre-COVID-19, as the fundamentals are all sound," Dr. William- son said. "For example, we're not going to bring new MDs or ODs into the practice without a non-compete agreement, and in general, the contract will be for about 2 years (with annual auto-renews) at about 30% of collections. I do think contracting will change post-COVID-19, but primarily I think that's going to be with pro- viders who have contracts coming up that they want to negotiate." Dr. Williamson thinks partnership oppor- tunities are still available despite the pandemic- caused conditions. "I think in the past, partnership has been looked at as a right-of-passage. … In today's environment, physicians are more in touch with partnership for performance than they ever have been," he added. Zachary Zavodni, MD, said his practice, like many private practices at this time, is taking a conservative approach to growth. "We recently brought on a new surgeon to replace an outgoing partner and we found by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director About the doctors Matthew Lowrance, DO Tennessee Eye Care Knoxville, Tennessee Eric Schneider, MD Tennessee Retina Nashville, Tennessee Blake Williamson, MD Williamson Eye Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana Zachary Zavodni, MD The Eye Institute of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah I YES CONNECT NSIDE THE PRACTICE

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