PRACTICE POLICY UPDATE REGARDING COVID-19
Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update
Updated March 24th, 2020
With businesses all around us closing by either mandate or voluntarily you may be wondering how long we will continue to operate, or even why we are still open at this point.
After serious consideration and in line with the recommendations of our State and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), we are limiting the practice until April 7th.
We are diligently monitoring conditions and recommendations from professional organizations such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and understand that the situation is ever-changing and may alter our plans at any point in the future
As physicians, we are cognizant of protecting our own patient population most at risk and the need to conserve our own limited resources. Actions have already been taken to postpone or cancel appointments and surgeries for patients who are best served staying home to limit potential exposure. We have also canceled or rescheduled appointments for services that are not immediately necessary in many cases.
Effective immediately the following will occur:
- All procedures and in-person consultations will be limited until April 7th. This may be revised in the following week.
- The office will be (not fully) staffed, and we will see our urgent post-surgical follow-ups.
- We are instituting Virtual Consultations for all potential patients.
- Many surgeries are rescheduled and some of the ones that are committed will occur on a per case basis.
- No patient will ever have any financial recourse for our fees for rescheduling their procedures.
We are constantly updating our services and staffing according to the local and national recommendations and will always place your health and well-being as our top priority.
We continue to exercise all the latest recommendations that are handed down by the CDC. These include:
Staff have been fully informed and trained to understand the disease process and its modes of transmission.
- All staff, vendors and ancillary personnel are being asked to refrain from coming to this office if they have any signs or symptoms of a cold or an upper respiratory tract infection.
- Every patient is also being asked to refrain from coming to the office if they have any symptoms.
- We are asking our patients about any pertinent travel history.
- Hand-washing continues to be the most important mode of prevention. Although it is a part of what we constantly do, now we are doing so with heightened vigilance and attention.
- We have instituted a “no handshakes no hug” policy for now.
- We have asked all vendors that any unnecessary meetings are canceled until further notice.
- Any exit and entrance from our office are followed by a protocol of changing shoes, scrubs and sanitization.
- As we are an (NO accredited) medical facility, we are constantly sanitizing all surfaces. We have now vamped that up and our routine, multiple times a day, wiping down all surfaces, desks, door handles, keyboards and restroom facilities. (We have assigned a person that does so on a constant basis.)
As previous communications have shared, procedures and protocols have been put in place (and continue to evolve) to protect our employees in the workplace. However, no one can guarantee the absolute protection from infection or potential exposure despite recommended precautions being taken.
The virus can be transmitted before an infected person starts exhibiting symptoms. It is possible for a person to be infected and also not experience symptoms. We are doing everything possible to prevent people exposed or exhibiting symptoms from access to our facilities. Even with all of our precautions, exposure to patients with the COVID-19 virus can happen. When we become aware of any potential exposure, our response is immediate and actions are taken to protect everyone directly involved.
Experts are predicting that 40% of the Chicagoland population will be infected within the next month. Current information demonstrates that for 97% of the people infected the symptoms will be mild or flu-like. 3-5% of patients will require hospital care, and the mortality rate is less than 2%.
Risk of exposure will occur at every touchpoint of our daily lives outside of our home-- including gas stations, grocery stores, and medical facilities.
Although Covid-19 is a serious issue, we strongly believe that it will pass and hopefully make our infrastructure and our ability to deal with pandemics in this Country even better than it currently is. We are monitoring this situation on a real-time basis and will not sit back until we know that we have done everything possible to avoid unnecessary exposure.
Here are some links that might be useful:
Please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always here to answer your questions
Please allow us time to respond.
Call us at our current phone line to leave a non-urgent message or via our online email, contact form, virtual consultation or apex chat service popup box. As always for any emergency services, please call 911
