Dr. Michael Bradley | Orthopedics Rhode Island Inc. CEO and president
Most people cannot express the host of emotions they felt throughout this pandemic. As COVID-19 took center stage, hospital staff and primary care physicians became true front-line workers. We acknowledge their dedication and strength.
For other health care providers, such as physician specialists, patient visits went down significantly. The traditional workday and traditional worker had to adapt and adjust. Taking this as an opportunity instead of a loss, we at Ortho Rhode Island considered ourselves fortunate to have time to reevaluate our business focus. To complicate our outlook, Ortho Rhode Island was midway through a colossal undertaking: building from the ground up a state-of-the-art office facility and surgery center.
Could we do it? We did – and here’s how:
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Lead by example. Initial pay cuts started and ended with our physician shareholders and executive team. Our assessment of our needs allowed us to offer only voluntary furloughs to workers. As quickly as we could, we brought workers back to work.
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Look to the future. No one can predict the future. But we can prepare for it. Our executive team put together a Plan Ahead Team that helped evaluate new strategies for adopting technology to create more-efficient workflows, reinventing the patient experience and eliminating traditional waiting room traffic.
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Be open to change. Use data to drive decisions, but still be personable and never forget the human side of the workplace.