COVID-19 and the Changing Face of Ambulatory Care

As Senior Program Administrator for UR Medicine Geriatrics Group, Ryan Gilmartin, MHA, has responsibilities for medical direction and medical services for 15 nursing homes and 33 assisted living facilities across the region. When COVID-19 struck he was asked to be the point person for all of Highland’s Ambulatory sites and help develop, interpret, and implement policies, procedures and work flow changes for the sites.

He worked alongside program administrators for Women’s Health, OB/GYN, Perioperative Services, Cardiology, Neurology, Bariatrics, Orthopedics, Primary Care, Imaging, Radiation-Oncology, Highland Family Medicine, GAMA and the ED.

Some programs had multiple locations and they closed some sites to concentrate essential visits in one site. Practices were converted to accommodate infection control measures and reduce full staff onsite.

“The entire ambulatory team was great to work with,” said Gilmartin. “Even though things changed almost every day they all kept a positive attitude. We had ongoing conversations about supplies, labor pool, new policies, and new procedures. I couldn’t have been more proud to be surrounded with such great colleagues.”

Sites are starting to reopen with safety measures in place. “There is emerging demand and growing need in the community for services,” he said. “And we are ready to meet those needs.”

“We learned so much in this process,” he said. “And now it’s important to establish our new normal and become accustomed to it. Our focus has been reengineered. We will be able to respond and alter our course more swiftly if we do face the challenges of a second wave of COVID-19 because we know what will need to change and we have a new “playbook” for workflows, policy implementation, etc.”

6/10/2020