AMA issues guidance for business continuity, non-essential care during the COVID-19 emergency

Be ready to provide employees with a note that allows them to travel during a shelter-in-place order, consider limits to non-essential services and find out how to fast-track telehealth services during the current pandemic. These are just three snippets of advice in the batch of resources for private practices that the American Medical Association (AMA) released today.

 

One resource offers tips for keeping the practice in business during the pandemic. It provides practice owners and managers with a game plan that will help them meet the financial and operational challenges of running a business during a pandemic. The guidance contains 11 steps that include booting up a rapid response process, making sure you have enough money and supplies to stay open, and keeping employees safe and informed.

 

"It is imperative to establish a clear chain of command and rapid response process to ensure swift, decisive action," the guidance states. "As much as possible, think ahead so your response team does not have to navigate issues in real time." For instance, you should be prepared to handle a scenario where a provider tests positive for the coronavirus.

 

Another resource digs into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendation to delay non-essential care such as elective office visits and procedures. The guideline walks through additional steps a practice can take to protect staff and patients and stretch its supplies of personal protection equipment.

 

The guidance includes creating scripts for discussing the need to delay a procedure in a way that won’t alarm patients, asking patients to call the practice before an appointment if they have symptoms of any illness and using telehealth services when possible for high risk patients.

The final resource is an updated quick guide to implementing telehealth services, which includes how to set up a telemedicine team, select a platform and implement a telehealth workflow. The new guidance arrives after the AMA released multiple telehealth and COVID-19 coding scenarios.

 

Practices that want additional guidance may sign up for the physician’s guide to COVID-19 that the AMA has created and continue to monitor other resources including the Part B News blog, which provides critical coding and practice management guidance.

 

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