technology component has been a big help," says Mr. Uba. "It's
been nice to rely on scalable care pathways and digital care naviga-
tion to connect with patients and keep our schedule on track."
• Patient financing. The unemployment rate has hit 15% in the
Buffalo area, leading Mr. Uba to assume he'd see a large number
of patients who had lost their health insurance or struggle to pay
their out-of-pocket expenses on the day of surgery. Surprisingly,
that hasn't happened. At least not yet.
"Other facility leaders I've talked to are faced with that issue," he
says. "I'm guessing we'll see more of those patients when we get deep-
er into our backlog. When we do, we're going to have to be flexible in
the financial assistance we offer."
The financial hardships caused by the pandemic might require you
to help patients pay for needed care. Consider partnering with a
healthcare credit card company, which patients can sign up for
online before their procedures or in your facility when they arrive
for surgery. Financing companies collect upfront costs, pay your
facility immediately and work with patients to collect balances. The
arrangement lets you collect copays immediately and in full without
adding to your accounts receivable. Those are important benefits if
you need access to liquid cash over the next few months to make
up for the financial hit you took during the shutdown.
Mr. Uba expresses confidence in the abilities of surgery centers to
navigate the financial and clinical challenges they're facing because of
COVID-19. "They're flexible, nimble and efficient," he says.
"Outpatient surgery was made to handle uncertainty like this."
Still, these have been unprecedented times and facility leaders have
been tested like never before as they manage their way through the crisis.
"It certainly has been an interesting ride," says Mr. Uba. And it's not
over yet.
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