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Wednesday, 16 September 2020 15:05

From Crucible to Phoenix

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The hospital that we knew in 2019 is no longer there.  Hospitals are in a crucial state of being remolded.  I believe that the phoenix that will result is a hybrid model of care, highly specialized, with nothing but positive attributes for patients.

Everything we knew to be true about the healthcare experience has transformed into a environment of cost containment and competitive care.  Just using PPE purchasing as an example, we no longer tolerate price gauging and shortages.  Communities have chipped in and taken up the mantle of what needs to be provided to insure hospitals have the products they need.  We have re-invented resourcefulness and have leaped years into the future of telemedicine success.  We are now at ease with electronic interactions with physicians and nurses.  All age groups have embraced the speed at which we can talk to our physicians through electronic interface.  It saves time and money.  

To be sure, there will be much to accomplish with renewed infection control mechanisms.  Air flow and a fresh appreciation of the power of the outdoors has eclipsed inoperable windows of tightly sealed hospitals of yesteryear.  Cleaning, disinfection, and sanitation have taken on new meaning in day to day discussions of the average American in all work environments.  Ultraviolet filtration and overall education of what kills germs is now a household topic of concern.

The key word is efficiency.  What would have taken ten or more years to achieve has happened in seven months of intensity.  I am of the belief that we will be glad the Pandemic sped up the process.  The platform for care in the United States will move forward with less redundancy, separating functions into a retail marketplace of services.  The future will address individual service centers of care, with highly acute recovery centers separate from the "big house" of the hospital proper.  We have already seen free-standing emergency departments, and we will see more of these.  Singular buildings with children's services separate from adult care are already abundant.  Now we will reap the benefits of known infection control measures and plan for specific environments of care for cancer and compromised people.  There will be more sensitivity to specialized care platforms.

We are a great country and we have proven that time and time again.  The phoenix is rising from this crucible of change as it always does here in the United States and the term, "made in America" will be the key to many successes, not just in healthcare.