![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
After moving away from a cohabitation-arrangement with two other doctors that didn't work out, in an over-priced rental space, and then the space we were moving in to wasn't ready because covid delayed all the remodeling and inspections and so on, we just got hammered.
Then our "eight day" shutdown for most of the remodeling turned into three weeks, and on top of that the postal service thought we were one of the many practices that permanently closed, so put all our mail on 'return to sender' status during the construction. I doubt we will ever recapture that revenue, as it comes in hundreds upon hundreds of small checks from insurance companies, and they have no incentive to just spontaneously re-issue and re-send the checks, so we will have to pay someone to figure out what we are owed (in health care we never know what the insurance will actually pay, or even if they will pay, and it often takes at least 90 days before we can find out), then if we are owed the $17.28, our employee will likely have to sit on hold 30 minutes and explain why the insurer should reissue the check. End-of-year means many patients won't even be in their system after year-end, having changed plans, so I'm sure that will be another excuse to delay reimbursement.
My employees are SO dedicated that they are literally working for IOU's and we just divvy up whatever co-pays we get on a given day and give the neediest employee enough so they can get groceries and gas. They have faith in me that I will eventually pay them even if I don't get paid, but more importantly, they have a sense of devotion to our patients. Many patients can't even get in to any 'primary care' doctors now due to covid, and we feel we need to be there for our patients. I am so humbled by the employees I have, who live paycheck-to-paycheck, and are willing to sacrifice like that; most people wouldn't work an hour over-time without demanding time and a half on the very next paycheck, yet these people are working many, many hours for a promise. It isn't fun for me to work without pay, but at least I have an employed wife, and years of building up some reserve. I've been able to sell a few guns when needed to pay bills; these are young people who have no reserve, and some have to hitch rides to work because they can't afford a vehicle.
God is with us though - when the photocopier needed servicing and we owed a month on the contract so they wouldn't come out, it happened that same day that a patient took up a collection at church, and handed me an envelope that was almost enough to pay the balance and get the copier going again. Another started a GoFundMe page.
So.....if you know any bored philanthropists searching for a decent 'cause' I'd volunteer ours. We aren't doing missionary work or anything that exotic, just trying to keep ordinary middle-class Americans as healthy as they can be, but I think it is a good cause.
Our GoFundMe Page...
![Neutral :|](./images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif)
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
Pretty humbling as I said, and makes me feel like a failure in many ways, but I guess God wanted me to make a fool out of myself in the business world, and save my 'expertise' for the clinical realm.