3/24/20

“It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own.”

 -Harry S. Truman 

Times are getting tough. The entire hospitality industry is struggling to survive from restaurants, hotels, spas, etc. to the travel sector. Given the ban on elective OR procedures and clinic visits, we've had a >90% drop in revenue. We trying to switch to telemedicine, but it pays pennies on the dollar and my old patients are struggling to adapt. I generated fewer than 2 RVU's all day at work yesterday. We don't know how long the stay at home orders are going to last. If there was a strictly enforced lockdown, we could probably get through this quickly, but it's a half-ass effort with people, especially younger ones, boldly deflying orders. Given the caving economy, President Trump, is caving into pressure to open for business, sooner than we're ready. He keeps insisting that it's not as bad as the flu and in his usual petty way is refusing to help New York and it's citizens, pushing blame on Governor Cuomo. New York's numbers are anticipated to peak soon and there is a huge push to try to get PPE and ventilators over to new york. NYC is expected to become the new epicenter of the virus.

Saving lives is the most important, but it doesn't make the pain any less real. We're all watching our incomes drop and dipping in our emergency funds. We're trying to keep the lights on, but realistically, corporate is going to send us home, close a few positions, and never re-open those positions, when we re-open for business. I have patients begging for surgery, but we're only allowed to perform tier 1 emergency cases. This is going to be a rough ride...