What Many Providers Talk About with "Covid Recovery Strategy" is not Strategy

In an article published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, VSSL Director Dr. Joshua Liao makes the case for implementing both operational measures as well as strategy in order to recover from Covid-19.

As Dr. Liao writes:

For radiologists and other clinicians alike, these moves have triggered widespread discussion about “recovery strategy,” a collection of measures needed to recover from the pandemic. To date, the discourse has been dominated largely by a focus on several operational elements: adequate supply of personal protective equipment for employees, sufficient capacity to test employees and patients, expanded policies about facility cleaning and physical distancing, and patient volume quotas.

These are necessary components of recovery, but they are not strategy.

Dr. Liao discusses the distinction between operational elements and strategy as defined by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. Based on this perspective, Dr. Liao highlights 3 points for radiology and other practices to consider:

1. Actively address issues such as safety and other drivers of patient behavior

2. Recognize how the pandemic could affect health insurance coverage

3. Consider volume-based versus cost-based payment models

Read the full article here. The content has been covered by imaging/radiology-related publications here and here.