Page 42 - Delaware Medical Journal - January/February 2021
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Doctors Share Their Practice Management Challenges, Expectations for 2021
Tina Irgang Leaderman
For physicians, as for the rest of the country, the COVID-19 pandemic turned 2020 into a perfect storm
of unexpected challenges. With vaccines starting to be distributed as of this writing, we asked three physicians in share their thoughts on what the next year will bring for their practices.
VIBHA SANWAL, MD
SPECIALTY: Pediatrics PRACTICE: Rainbow Pediatrics, Georgetown
Like most physicians, Sanwal has seen her patient volume shrink during the pandemic, as fear keeps many people been especially challenging for Rainbow Pediatrics due to its rural location. A large percentage of Sanwal’s patients do not have access to the internet, meaning
telehealth isn’t always an option. “Before the pandemic, patients would
especially the sick ones,” Sanwal says. “Now, we are not that busy.”
Rainbow Pediatrics recently received a grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics to acquire Anytime Pediatrics, a telemedicine solution that patients
can use without access to the internet or even an email address. “If you’re a patient, we can just text a link to your cell phone. They hit the link, we can do the visit, and everything gets documented,” Sanwal says.
In 2021, Sanwal expects patient volume to recover as people’s fear of being in
a medical practice subsides. Rainbow Pediatrics may help that process along, halves, to separate sick patients and those coming in for well visits.
Sanwal also expects that the somewhat rushed patient encounters during the pandemic will give way to longer, more relaxed visits again. “Right now, we don’t want to spend too much time in the sick room,” she says. “But I think once [the pandemic] is over, we can spend more time with patients again.”
BRIAN J. WALSH, DO
SPECIALTY: Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine
PRACTICE: Dover Pulmonary
Physician practices across the country
in 2020, and Dover Pulmonary is no exception, Walsh says.
Those losses are unlikely to be recouped in 2021, or ever, especially considering ongoing uncertainty around Medicare reimbursement for virtual visits, Walsh
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Del Med J | January/February 2021 | Vol. 93 | No. 1
