Taking in a New View

After three months – which to me feels like three years – we have reached the down slope of the curve. New COVID-19 cases have even begun to decline. There are many reasons to feel upbeat: an increasing number of COVID-19 patients have been discharged alive; research has made incredible progress to better understand the virus; and health care essential services that have been delayed are beginning to return to the patients who need them. And summer is near.

Yes, life is looking a little brighter, but what does the future look like?

That’s difficult to answer. COVID-19 continues to reveal new manifestations. We still have some ways to go before we fully understand the virus and the disease it causes. And we still have some ways to go before we have effective treatments and prevention strategies.

Some questions about the future are easier to answer. Penn Medicine will continue to provide the outstanding care that has made us an indispensable part of our communities. Our hospitals remain safe and fully operational, and our dedicated health care heroes continue to save the lives of our patients while taking care of their families, and each other, along the way. The substance of this, the commitment to outstanding care, delivered with compassion, won’t change.

But going forward, it will look different. We now will co-exist with COVID-19.

And no matter how long COVID-19 lingers, health care has been reshaped forever—our society has been reshaped forever. Until there is an effective vaccine or an effective treatment, we must remain vigilant to new spikes of this disease. Not only must we as a system and we as individuals continue to adhere to social distancing guidelines, but we also must make permanent many of the changes we put in place at the pandemic’s onset.

Across our health system, we have made informed decisions to aggressively combat COVID-19: from leveraging technological capabilities that transform the patient experience to eliminating face-to-face appointment check-ins with socially distant “text-ins.” Our patient-facing staff are tested repeatedly, driven by symptoms or exposures, and we have launched antibody testing for thousands of workers to learn more about potential immunity. We continue to ensure our staff have the PPE they need and deserve. Scheduled surgeries have begun to resume, and we have made informed adjustments to our outpatient services so everyone can get the care and support they need.

This pandemic has shown that we can still offer the same quality care that we have delivered for decades, improved in some cases through the virtual care innovations that meet patients where they are. Hospitals across the country are collectively shaping this new normal. In many ways, that new normal will be better, facilitated by the technology that has already transformed so many other aspects of our lives. It took a pandemic to bring some of that transformation to health care.

These changes were borne from the need to serve our patients during a crisis, but they will help us serve our patients even better going forward.

These are some views from the plateau – a view towards the future of health care. And my, what a view it is.