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"I think a slow and methodical opening of the U.S. healthcare system is now warranted": Healthcare Expert

Meghan FitzGerald, PE Investor, Healthcare Policy Professor at Columbia University and Author of “Ascending Davos,” joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move to weign in on how the coronarvirus will drastically change the future of healthcare systems.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Well, as we talk about reopening by region, we also to talk about reopening by industry. Right? Because even the plan that Governor Cuomo just unveiled for a phased reopening has reopenings for things like construction that will happen first. We're joined now by Meghan Fitzgerald. She is a private equity investor, author of "Ascending Davos," and health care policy professor at Columbia University. She's also a former nurse.

Meghan, it is great to see you again. So one of the industries that we have to talk about reopening is health care which is ironic, right, because obviously, this is an industry that has really been taxed by this crisis. But it's an industry that's only operating at a fraction of its usual self, because people aren't going to the doctor as much as usual. They're not getting elective surgeries. So what does that phased reopening need to look like?

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MEGHAN FITZGERALD: Yeah. Hi, Julie, and back to your GDP question. We just shed 43,000 jobs in health care, which you guys probably know better than me. I think that was one of the highest on record in decades. So what does the reopening look like? I think we have to get used to doing two competing things at once.

First, we have to continue to test, because we're grossly under testing how many people have COVID, and we have to accelerate the reporting of that test. Second, and this is somewhat conflicting, we have to be able to see patients who need essential care. Many patients, because of the closures and the hard shutdown, put off stents, put off biopsies. 25% of US patients that have cancer said, there's delays in treatment. So I don't think those patients can wait any longer, and I think a slow and methodical opening of the US health care system is now warranted.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Hey. It's Adam. Thank you for joining us. What can we do to speed what you've just suggested up? Because in a lot of parts of the country-- parts of Georgia, rural areas-- hospitals were already closed, and people live in parts of Maine that are 30 minutes to an hour from the nearest hospital. So what you're proposing doesn't happen overnight. How could we speed that process up?

MEGHAN FITZGERALD: No. You're exactly right. This is going to be a slow opening. It was a hard shut off, like a light, and most physicians and hospitals tell me, you can't just flip it back on, especially when you've furloughed so many health care workers. So three things I would offer that we can do. First and foremost, let's just be intellectually honest about what is elective versus a surgery that could wait like cosmetic surgery.

Second, let's look to best practices that are happening right now in local markets, in Ohio, Texas, and Florida, where they're using the local physicians and the local hospitals to deem how to reopen. For instance, a local hospital knows if it has enough ICU capacity, should there be another COVID surge. They have a very good handle on their supply of medicines and PPE and whether they can see patients. They can alter workflows. They can alter transit patterns to even shut down parts of the hospital, if they need to isolate patients.

And finally, we really need to pick up on medical social distancing and make patients very comfortable that that is a new way to live. Your new waiting room is now your car. You're likely going to have to go in by yourself, wearing a mask. You're going to have to be spread out more than six feet. It's probably going to be more like 50 feet.

Your temperature is going to be taken, and if you have a fever, most likely, your procedure's going to be canceled. So we have to pick up on the medical social distancing, because so many patients are afraid. Even if we open tomorrow, many still fear they will get the virus, and they're trading that off between getting a stent.

DAN HOWLEY: Hey, Meghan. This is Dan Howley. I just want to ask, you know, if you're going to a health care provider, getting tested. We talk about testing so much, but you know, you can get a test, and then the next day come into contact with someone, potentially, and become infected. So I guess, will there be a regular cadence to testing that people will have to undergo over time to ensure that businesses can reopen, that the economy can go back to some sense of normalcy?

MEGHAN FITZGERALD: Yeah. It's such a great question. Right now, a million people have the disease. So that means pretty much the entire population is still, quote, under observation, as we say in public health speak. We want 30 tests per 1,000. So that requires 30 trackers per every 100,000, and we don't have that many trackers yet.

So I think we're going to be in a perpetual state of tracking for the next two years, and that's something people are going to have to get used to. As I understand, we've only tracked-- sorry-- we've only tested around six million patients. So we have a long way to go. It's a good question.

RICK NEWMAN: Hey, Megan. Rick Newman here. I'm so intrigued by the idea of how the waiting room is going to change. I mean, sometimes, that's just the most miserable part of the visit, worst than even getting probed by the doctor. You feel like you're sitting among sick people.

So you said that your car will be the new waiting room. What about in cities where people, you know, don't pull up to the place in a car? And is there some way to just get rid of the waiting room forever and replace it with something better?

MEGHAN FITZGERALD: Now you're breaking news. We're going to get rid of the waiting room, such a good question. I think we should use telehealth. As I mentioned before, I think a lot of patients are really scared, and you're going to have to do a lot of the triaging and pre-selling ahead of time with phone calls and telehealth.

So is it possible to use your phone and telehealth to say, listen, we're ready to see you? You do this at restaurants all the time. You do this when you're buying supplies or phones. They're letting you know when they're going to be ready for you within 30 minutes.

Why can't that now be applied to medicine? Because you're right. I don't know anybody that likes to wait around in the doctor's office, let alone, now, you know, waiting 20 feet apart from somebody else. So I think it's a really interesting concept you brought up, and I think it's going to require some clever solutions.

JULIE HYMAN: I really like that solution, Meghan, for it, but I also want ask about telehealth more broadly. Right? Because it has been touted during this crisis as a really useful tool. I'm more curious about the limits of telehealth. For example, could be very useful for something like mental health counseling, but aren't there a number of things that can't easily be diagnosed using telehealth, first of all? And second of all, what about places that just don't have good broadband, again, going back to a lot of rural areas of the US.

MEGHAN FITZGERALD: Yeah. It is not, you know, a wonder or a cure, telehealth. Listen, I think it could work in a lot of preventative disease and, a lot of times, I think to help triage patients. But let's be honest, if you need a blood test, telehealth can't do that. You're going to have to go to a lab and get a blood test, and I think the more acute conditions, you need a visit.

And that's part of what I'm pushing for is we need to open up people being able to go get a cancer biopsy, being able to get their gallbladder removed, a stent. None of that can be done on telehealth, but I think telehealth is good at the first part of the visits-- the consultation, the dialogue. Hey, Julie, here's how it's going to work today.

I'm going to call you. You're going to have 20 minutes to get here. You have to wear a mask. You can't come with somebody. So I think telehealth plays an important role, but by no means can it substitute a lot of the acute care that we're talking about today.

JULIE HYMAN: All right. Meghan, it's always good to get some time with you. Hope to see you again soon. Meghan Fitzgerald is a private equity investor, author of "Ascending Davos," and health care policy professor at Columbia University. She joined us from Florida. Thank you so much, Meghan.