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To All Our Patients,

Four months ago, when many of us were perhaps making resolutions to eat better, exercise more, be more patient, listen more and talk less, few of us could have imagined that in less than three months we would be facing a global pandemic that would bring life as we knew it to a halt.

As with any disaster, many of us appreciated the many simple things we took for granted only when they were no longer available to us. Visiting with friends and family, supporting our kids in their sports and hobbies, going to a restaurant, or seeing a movie in a crowded theater. 

For all of us, the outbreak of this virus has been disruptive. For students, it has meant the loss of contact with friends, cancellation of athletics, and the loss of milestone events like proms and graduations.  For others that disruption includes the loss of employment and income and the accompanying anxiety about meeting their financial obligations. There are those who are in physical pain and are waiting for surgery to be available to them again. Tragically for some, this outbreak has cost them their lives and taken from those they leave behind even the simple dignity of shared grief at a funeral. 

For many of us life right now feels like chaos; like our lives are out of control. It is in the face of this great uncertainty that I am reaching out to humbly offer a few words of encouragement as I do see the chaos giving way to order.  

People are finding alternative ways to stay healthy. We are seeing now more than ever our community walking, running, and cycling for the benefit of mind and body during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The orthopedic community is also looking at alternative treatment platforms to serve their patients whose orthopedic surgeries have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes leveraging software and technology to offer pain-alleviating support to patients who cannot come into their doctor’s office. 

Physicians and patients alike are embracing virtual medicine to the extent that some practices have seen their telemedicine utilization increase from 1-2% of care to almost 100% of care delivered. These efforts have in turn been supported by new state and federal guidelines that removed one of the primary barriers to telehealth adoption by changing the payment models to account for virtual and telephonic physician consultations to be covered by insurance.

The adoption of telemedicine by patients and their providers has in turn been made possible by the telemedicine infrastructure that has been developing over the past ten years. The telemedicine sector has been growing steadily and in the first half of 2019 alone over $1.5 billion was invested by technology companies that have learned how to facilitate telehealth quickly, easily, and securely for their customers.

In short, Americans are doing in the current crisis what we have done when faced with crises of the past; we are working with one another, adapting to the current environment, and overcoming obstacles to move forward.

We do not know what the future may hold, and we cannot predict when, or even if, our lives will return to what they were. But perhaps the lasting impact of this outbreak will not only be measured by an inventory of what we have lost. Perhaps that inventory will also include something that we will have gained; the shared memory of how we all got through COVID-19 – together.
 
Sincerely,
Stephen Maddock, CEO

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