Radiology provider Envision Healthcare has launched a series of structured initiatives aimed at helping heal docs on the front lines of the pandemic.
The Nashville-based firm—which leads a team of more than 900 radiologists—said its new program includes daily wellness coaching and stress management, along with expert-led video conference calls. The latter also occur daily, are geared toward clinicians and their families, and wrap up with five minutes of guided mediation.
Envision is also offering crisis peer support training for physicians throughout its organization—including those in quarantine, or who have contracted the virus. And it is providing counseling for caregivers working in hot spots “to help them debrief and prepare for reintegration back home,” according to a May 7 announcement.
“Regardless of specialty, clinicians are having their normal practice disrupted by COVID-19. These new stressors are also challenging clinician support systems and mental health.” Stefanie Simmons, MD, vice president of patient and clinician engagement, said in a statement. “Keeping clinicians safe and healthy is critical to treating coronavirus patients and mitigating the spread of COVID-19,” she added later.
Envision and its providers have lent a hand in several areas hit hard by the public health emergency, the firm noted. They’ve provided support at Mount Sinai Health System and three other New York hospitals, helped to secure and deliver more than 4 million pieces of personal protective equipment, and continued to treat patients “regardless of their ability to pay.”
“The pandemic has put an enormous strain on the nation’s health system and economy. Guided by the delivery of quality patient care, we will continue taking deliberate actions to pull our teams and communities through this crisis and ensure patients have access to care when they need it most,” added Jim Rechtin, Envision’s president and CEO.
Envision Healthcare is one of the nation’s largest multispecialty, facility-based physician groups, serving some 1,800 clinical departments in specialties that also include anesthesiology, emergency medicine, hospitalist services, and pediatrics. Private equity firm KKR recently purchased the physician firm, which is reportedly mulling bankruptcy.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.