Physicians are facing new, unfamiliar challenges in delivering care to non-urgent patients. Think: healthcare workers that provide cancer treatment, organ transplants and family planning.
Natera, a company that helps patients manage genetic diseases, is continuing to provide non-urgent health care related to women’s health, organ transplants and cancer treatment. In light of COVID-19, the company has amended its operations to adhere to social distancing protocols. Though the shift hasn’t been without its challenges, the company’s leaders are optimistic that Natera is now better prepared to navigate the future of diagnostic medicine.
“We adapted several of our workflows to adjust to changes in the healthcare space,” Chris Lundberg, senior engineering manager, said. “For instance, some of our products that previously used routine blood draws have been changed to a saliva sample to eliminate a doctor’s visit.”
Adjustments took place internally as well. The company’s workforce is split between laboratory employees — who have implemented social distancing and increased sanitation — still conducting work on-site, and non-lab staff that shifted to working remotely. In both instances, tweaks needed to be made to keep employees safe, engaged and ready to adapt to potential industry changes in the future.
How have you aligned your team around operational shifts as employees work from home and practice social distancing?
Our laboratories are still operational so our lab employees are not working at home, however, appropriate measures have been made to ensure their safety. Staff walk in spaced lines when using access badges to enter the building and there are temperature checks at the door. We have increased sanitization protocols and practice social distancing while working, in addition to other adaptations.
For the rest of the company, which is working from home, all meetings have been moved to Zoom to accommodate the shift to remote work. We routinely host virtual events, including fun ones like happy hours and game nights.
We feel better prepared for the future and ready to adapt to rapidly changing business needs.”
How do you think this shift will impact your business in the future?.
This shift to remote work will improve our ability to collaborate across multiple locations, particularly with teams that are already geographically distributed. We feel better prepared for the future and ready to adapt to rapidly changing business needs. The future of diagnostic medicine will be more direct-to-patient instead of requiring physician visits and we feel well-suited to assist in that change.
