Bouncing Back Stronger: A Playbook for Reopening Medical Practices

It is a grim irony that the greatest health crisis of our generation separated most Americans from their healthcare providers. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, most medical practices that responsibly followed social-distancing guidelines drastically limited in-person visits or were shuttered entirely. But as doctors start to open their doors to patients again, one thing should be clear: We cannot go back to the way things used to be. For even though pre-COVID surveys showed that patients love their doctors, they also showed that they don’t love their interactions with their practices. As consumers, Americans are three times more likely to recommend a hotel or bank they’ve patronized than they are to recommend their healthcare provider — and are also about twice as likely to complain about them, according to a report by Accenture.