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16 ASC MANAGEMENT Texas surgery center aims to resume normal operations by gaining patients' trust By Angie Stewart A er Texas loosened elective proce- dure bans, North Dallas Ear Nose & roat began rescheduling proce- dures — but it will need to earn patients' trust to get volumes back up, e Dallas Morning News reported. North Dallas Ear Nose & roat, which usually sees about 80 patients a week, fielded a single patient phone call the third week of April. Before the pandemic prompted elective surgery restrictions, the practice's physicians typically performed about 40 surgeries a month. e practice is led by Morris Gottlieb, MD, who said resuming elective procedures will require showing the public it's safe to come back again without putting themselves or others in danger. Dr. Gottlieb plans to move forward as if everyone in the facility has COVID-19. at means requiring all staff and patients to wear masks. When Dr. Gottlieb performs surger- ies at Baylor Surgicare at North Dallas, he will be wearing an N95 mask at all times. In addition, staff will be required to remain in the operating room for 15 minutes aer each surgery is finished and the patient's breathing tube is removed. is measure is intended to give the micronized filtration system time to clean the air before the OR doors are opened. Before they even enter the facility, patients will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms and travel history. Other precautions include asking visitors to wait in their cars while patients are seen. n Texas eye practice retained all 450 employees during shutdowns By Angie Stewart W ith the help of telemedicine, Houston-based Berke- ley Eye Center was able to retain its entire work- force of 450 employees during practice shutdowns forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We're proud to have kept all 450 members of our medical, surgical and optical staff employed during this crisis," Execu- tive Director Mark Micheletti said in a May 1 press release. "This allowed us to care for hundreds of emergent care pa- tients during the peak of the virus and to properly prepare for safely reopening to the public." Berkeley Eye Center reopened May 4. The fully staffed ophthalmology practice wants patients to know it's safe to come to the facility, where there are new safety protocols and patient care processes in place. Berkeley Eye Center is screening every patient for COVID-19, limiting visitors, requiring all patients and staff to wear face masks, maintaining social distancing, utilizing personal protec- tive equipment and employing robust cleaning procedures. Telemedicine services will remain available to patients who don't feel comfortable or safe coming into a clinic. Berkeley Eye Center has 20 offices in and around the Houston area. n IT staff absent from 63% of physician practices By Angie Stewart S ixty-three percent of physicians who responded to the "91st Annual Medical Economics Physician Re- port" said their practice does not employ IT staff. Healthcare Research & Analytics distributed the survey via email in February — before the COVID-19 pandemic began seriously affecting practice staffing and finances — collecting 1,055 responses across 17 specialties. The average number of workers employed by physi- cian practice respondents: Medical assistants: 4.4 Front-desk workers: 3.4 Registered nurses: 2.9 Nurse practitioners or physician aides: 2.7 Billers or coders: 2.5 Schedulers: 2.5 Office managers, social services administrators or care coordinators: 2.3 IT staff: 1.6 Pharmacist: 1 n