Cancellations and closed doors: Health businesses feel coronavirus pain
In Elk Grove, chiropractors are marking nearly as many cancellations as appointments — close to one in three at Andrew O. Williams’ practice.
In the Bay Area, the six-county shelter-in-place coronavirus shutdown forced one physical therapist’s practice and likely others to lock its doors, a trade association leader said.
In Natomas, Dr. Quynh Pham, a dentist and the owner of North Natomas Family Dentistry, is concerned about her elderly patients — and the bottom line.
“This is the first time in all my life that we’ve gone through something like this. ... We’ve had cancellations by elderly patients. They want to stay home,” Pham said. “A lot of offices are closing this week. We are going to cut back on the number of days. We’re not concerned about volume right now,” she added.
But Pham still has checks to sign and bills to pay.
“The bills are still there. I will just have to tough it out,” she said. “Most dentists I know are concerned about paying their rent and taxes. Closing down and cutting back on days will affect income.”
The COVID-19 crisis gripping the nation has forced millions of Californians to shelter behind closed doors, dealing a devastating blow to workers from bartenders and baristas, restaurateurs to Realtors.
But the economic pain is just as acute for those health care workers far away from the front lines of hospitals and emergency rooms — the independent chiropractors, dentists, physical therapists and others whose up-close-and-personal practices struggle to adapt to a coronavirus landscape that seemingly shifts by the day.
“We’re a hands-on profession, so we do touch our patients, but we are scrubbing everything down, doing everything possible to keep things as safe,” Williams said.
His Backs in Motion ChiroSpa in Elk Grove, is still seeing patients and taking a battery of precautions. Those include asking high-risk patients to stay home; pre-screening others by phone; taking temperature readings at the door; creating special early hours and asking patients to wait in their cars until they are called for their appointments.
He sees his practice as a relief valve for overburdened hospitals, saving patients a trip to the emergency room because of pain. But Williams said he fears what a future under quarantine will mean.
He and other chiropractors are already getting a preview. Chiropractors are seeing cancellations, he said, dotting the calendar where there were once bookings. Williams estimates his cancellation rate at 30%.
“I think this is going to be a big strain on a lot of businesses. A lot of us have staff and if things are cut back even a little bit, it’s really hard to make ends meet,” he said. “We’re doing everything on our end to make this work, but I know one doctor who says one of his people is just quitting because they’re not comfortable coming in. We need help. We need to be able to take care of patients, but a lot of people are scared.”
California physical therapists hit hard during coronavirus
Chuck Felder is the executive director of Independent Physical Therapists of California and recently canvassed a dozen practices across the state.
Business, he said, is down anywhere from 30 to 60% on anxiety over COVID-19 — and the stay-at-home orders that are changing life for so many Californians.
“Everybody I talked to said the greatest percentage of their cancellations are from their Medicare-aged population who don’t want to go out,” Felder said. “The clinicians are concerned that the patients are going to have a big impact on their recovery, but they’re also significantly concerned about their businesses.”
For these small businesses with their slim margins and little rainy-day cash to fall back on, layoffs loom.
“It’s going to be a big hit to the small businesses,” he said.
For physical therapy practices like the ones Felder represents, the fate of their businesses are largely in the hands of county health officials tasked with responding to a viral pandemic.
“If they’re putting an order to shelter in place and telling all the businesses they have to close, then that will affect our members,” Felder said. “They make allowances for health care, but physical therapy is on a bubble.”
Sacramento optometrists end routine care due to COVID-19
At Eyes of East Sacramento, Tuesday was the tipping point for co-owner and optometrist Arlene Espiritu. Tuesday was the day the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended all routine eye care be postponed.
Wednesday was the Sacramento business’s last day of routine care. April 1 will mark Eyes On Sacramento’s five-year anniversary.
“We’ll be available for emergencies if needed and for inquiries from established patients,” Espiritu said. “That’s the plan.”
The virus and public health officials’ response to it leveled a direct hit to the eye care and eyewear shop’s boutique business model, she added.
“We face a unique challenge,” Espiritu said. “We do examinations and then fit glasses. That touch and feel has changed in just a week. ... With our type of boutique selection, people want to try on our frames and eyewear. People want to come in and try them on. That poses a little bit of a challenge for us.”
Espiritu said the shop’s hiatus will give her and her partner time to spend with their families — and reassess what their business will look like.
“This (health) challenge will change what we do from now on because we thought we were doing well. We need to step up that game,” Espiritu said. “We will have to change some things. Maybe we’ll move forward into the tele-health area and screen triage calls. We may increase our online presence.”
The strategizing and self-reflection comes amid the uncertainty so many in her industry and others are feeling about their livelihoods — and the growing pandemic.
Espiritu is in contact with optometrists across the country as part of a business group. Finding consensus has been complicated by the many differences in states’ recommendations and responses to the outbreak, she said.
“Some (shops) have closed. Some are going to close for 2½ weeks. Some will close until April 7. Some will open April 1. And then there are some who say they won’t do it until the government has mandated closing. There are many different camps,” Espiritu continued.
“There are more cases that the public doesn’t know about. That is what makes the future so uncertain,” she said. That will dictate how things go, whether sheltering in place for two weeks will be enough. It’s hard to know because every hour, something new is being reported.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 7:08 PM.
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