‘In this together’: A NYC MD’s account from the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis

Editor’s note: This episode of the MGMA Insights podcast continues a series focused on COVID-19 and its effects on healthcare professionals and their patients. Keep up with the latest updates by visiting the MGMA COVID-19 Federal Assistance and Advocacy Center.

In this episode, we’re joined by Dhruv Khullar, MPP and practicing MD at Weill Cornell New York-Presbyterian. An assistant professor and regular contributor to such publications as The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Atlantic, Khullar shares his perspective as a hospitalist in the heart of the U.S. COVID-19 crisis.

Here are highlights from Khullar’s interview: 

• (4:06) “There’s this real kind of energy that pulses through the hospital. There’s a lot of fear. There’s a lot of isolation for patients who aren’t able to accept visitors given the COVID epidemic. But it’s been incredibly heartening to see how people have come together to try to meet this challenge.”
• (10:09) “It’s a very unique time. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my medical career before.”
• (13:12) “I think a year, two years from now, we’re in a very different world in terms of how we deliver medical care to people.”
• (14:26) “It’s just been this situation in which everyone has kind of swallowed their ego. Everyone is trying to help out in whatever way they can. Because of that, we’ve been able to meet and rise to the occasion and have been able to deliver care to people that I’m really proud of.”
• (19:28) “We’re taking all available precautions that we can, but there’s no doubt that there’s some level of risk. I’m just blown away by the level of professionalism of our nurses and our doctors and respiratory therapists and PAs that get up and go to work and assume that risk to care for their patients.”
• (22:07) “It’s not a one-day disaster. It’s not a weeklong. It’s going to be on the order of months, and that makes it really challenging for people. It’s all the more important that we have the support that we need and that we recognize that we’re all in this together.”

Additional resources:

• MGMA COVID-19 Recovery Center
• CDC: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• World Health Organization: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak
• “A Disembodied Voice”: The Loneliness and Solidarity of Treating the Coronavirus in New York
• “Adrenaline, Duty, and Fear”: Inside a New York Hospital Taking on the Coronavirus

Additional resources in this series:

• COVID-19 Update: An action plan for medical practices and healthcare professionals
• 'COVID-19 has pretty much taken over my life': A practice administrator's perspective
• COVID-19: How one of Northern California’s largest health systems is responding to the crisis
• COVID-19: What healthcare leaders need to know about telehealth and the CMS policy changes
• COVID-19: Flattening the curve for America's elderly patients through quarantine and isolation
• COVID-19: Did the healthcare system let down providers fighting on the front line?
• COVID-19: Keeping ‘a unified voice’ across a multispecialty clinic’s operations during the pandemic
• COVID-19: Practicing self-compassion and leadership under pressure during a crisis
• The day-to-day challenges of an RN during the COVID-19 crisis
• Behavioral health professionals embracing telehealth while patients social distance
• Executive Session: Protecting healthcare workers amid COVID-19 — “There is no room for error”

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MGMA Insights is presented by Decklan McGee, Rob Ketcham and Daniel Williams.

Thanks to nThrive for sponsoring this episode. 

• For more on how nThrive is helping organizations drill into their physician data and achieve substantial results, visit nThrive.com. You can also click here to register for their upcoming MGMA seminar titled “Leverage Data Analytics to Improve Physician Practice Profitability,” which is eligible for ACMPE, ACHE, CPE (live only) and CEU credits.