Eyeworld

140 | EYEWORLD | JULY 2021 P RACTICE MANAGEMENT About the sources Rohit Varma, MD Founder Southern California Eye Institute Los Angeles, California Josh Weiner CEO Solutionreach Salt Lake City, Utah Carlton Yuen, MD Aloha Vision Consultants Honolulu, Hawaii References 1. Healthcare's New Normal: COVID Speeds Shift to Digital Communications. Medscape. 2020. img.medscape.com/ images/common/COVID-19%20 Insights%20-%20Impact%20 on%20Clinicians.pdf. Accessed Dec. 16, 2020. Relevant disclosures Varma: None Weiner: Solutionreach Yuen: Johnson & Johnson Vision by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director Pandemic pushed digital communication P ractice communications with patients were already moving toward digital when possible, but the COVID-19 pan- demic, which forced reduced in-office time and sought to eliminate physical touchpoints, pushed slow adopters forward. A Medscape report said: "The digital transformation in the healthcare and pharma- ceutical industries was accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. The key opinion leaders and industry experts agree that in the post-pan- demic world, even as lockdowns are lifted and restrictions relaxed, the emerging trends for an increase in digital communications will stay." 1 Josh Weiner said one of the initial chal- lenges for practices as they grappled with the pandemic early on was communication. "Practices urgently needed to let patients know what COVID-19 meant for their office and how patients could get the care they needed. Practices suddenly experienced something most never had before—the need to reach out to their entire patient base at once. Digital communica- tion (email or text message) was critical." Rohit Varma, MD, said his practice changed how they communicated with patients in three ways as a result of the pandemic. "One, we send everyone an email as well as a mailer about what to expect and how we're keeping our office safe for them, what things they should keep in mind, and what things they should do. Two, we have information on our website. Whenever new patients want to come to our office, they can see that. Three, for those who are already established patients, we are doing a fair amount of telehealth visits so that we can follow them as need be now," he said. Communications in the digital age at this point go beyond informing patients of health and safety measures being undertaken by the practice. Practices now more than ever are taking information that once would have been a repetitive discussion between physicians and patients and making it digital. Use of email/text communications, infor- mational videos, webpages, etc., are not novel as a result of the pandemic, but more physicians are using these technologies to get information to patients than before. "Everyone used to mail out welcome packets for cataract surgery," said Carlton Yuen, MD. "In 2019 you'd mail out a questionnaire, information on cataract surgery packet. … How many patients actually read that?" Dr. Yuen has been using text and video communications with his cataract consults for some time now. He said this technique gives his patients the ability to understand the cataract procedure and their IOL options before they continued on page 142 continued from page 138 • Tightening control on supply chain management • Mobile appointment check-in • Text communications (appointment confir- mations, recalls, patient education) • Virtual patient consultations • Remote billing, call center, and triage functions • Telehealth visits It is important to know where you have been and understand where you are in order to prepare to move forward. As ophthalmic busi- nesses move forward, those with the best, most durable strategic plans will incorporate lessons learned from 2020. Many of us had grand plans for 2020, "the year of perfect vision," but the reality was we lost a significant amount of ground. Our challenge will be to make it up, then move full speed ahead. Contact Varma: Su.Lee@HPMedcenter.com Weiner: LinkedIn @joshfweiner Yuen: dr.yuen@hotmail.com

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