• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

33 Charts

  • About
    • What is 33 Charts?
    • Bryan Vartabedian MD
  • Blog
  • 33mail
  • Foci
    • Social/Public Media
    • Physicians
    • Patients
    • Hospitals
    • Information
    • Process/Flow
    • Technology
    • Digital culture
    • Future Medicine
  • The Public Physician
Hospitals

Stop Medical Distancing

July 7, 2020 By Bryan Vartabedian · Reading Time: 2 minutes

Stop medical distancingIn light of the COVID-19 pandemic hospitals are facing catastrophic financial challenges. The American Hospital Association estimates a four-month impact of $202.6 billion in losses for hospitals and health systems – That’s an average of $50.7 billion per month.

With these mounting losses some systems ands organizations have jumped on board with a media campaign suggesting that we ‘stop medical distancing.’ It’s gentle media-driven nudge to remind us to come to the doctor. It addresses the visceral fear of being in a place that the public perceives as at risk. Beyond hospitals the American Heart Association has made their own edgy suggestion that we don’t die of doubt.

But beyond fear is the reality that as more patients turn COVID positive the numbers of those who buy in to the ‘stop medical distancing’ campaign may not be allowed on-site for their procedure or visit. As hospitals create ‘safe havens’ through aggressive screening, the numbers of patients eligible for elective care can be expected to erode substantially in hot/warm COVID spots over the near term. The creeping problem is the reality of containing infection within hospitals.

Na­tion­wide, hos­pi­tals have iden­ti­fied 5,142 coro­n­avirus in­fec­tions ap­par­ently ac­quired in­side hos­pi­tals from May 14 to June 21, ac­cord­ing to fig­ures pro­vided to The Wall Street Jour­nal by the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion. The fig­ure could be higher; the re­port­ing is vol­un­tary.

Success will involve a novel balance between selling the ‘safe haven’ with service delivery to the afflicted through COVID-designated clinics.

Stop medical distancing recommends that you stay six feet from one another except for your doctor. FWIW, there’s no mention of staying home and close to your computer monitor.

As hospitals squander this opportunity to create novel channels of health delivery through remote care, the stop medical distancing is the closest thing you’ll see to an anti-telemedicine campaign.

Related Articles

  • You Can't Stop Public Conversation
  • Medical Apocalypse
  • Direct to E-Patient Marketing

Tagged With: COVID, Hospital marketing, Hospitals

Related Articles

  • You Can't Stop Public Conversation
  • Medical Apocalypse
  • Direct to E-Patient Marketing

Primary Sidebar

Bryan Vartabedian, MD

Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Bryan Vartabedian is the Chief Pediatrics Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin and one of health care’s influential
voices on technology & medicine.
Learn More

Popular Articles

  • The Fate of Fired Cleveland Clinic Resident Lara Kollab
  • Cures Act Final Rule – How It Will Change Medicine
  • 12 Things About Doximity You Probably Didn’t Know
  • Should Physicians Give Their Cell Phone Number to Patients?
  • Doximity Dialer Video – Telemedicine’s Latest Power Player

Sign up for 33mail newsletter

Featured Articles

Yes, Doctor

100,000 Connected Lemmings

Reactive and Creative Spaces

Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission

Health Care and the Visibility-Value Continuum

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

What is 33 Charts?

With a mashup of curated and original content that crosses the spaces of digital health, media, communication, technology, patient experience, digital culture, and the humanities, 33 charts offers unique insight and analysis on the changing face of medicine.

Founded in 2009 as a center of community and thought leadership for the issues doctors face in a digital world, 33 charts was included in the National Library of Medicine permanent web archive in 2014.
Learn More

Foci

  • Digital culture
  • Digital Health
  • EHR/Health IT
  • Future Medicine
  • Hospitals
  • Information
  • Patients
  • Physicians
  • Process/Flow
  • Quality
  • Social/Public Media
  • Technology

Copyright © 2023 · 33 Charts · Privacy Policy