The South Florida Business Journal recently featured Joe Caruncho, CEO of Genuine Health Group, in their “Inside the List” column. Genuine Health Group ranked on their top-performing Hispanic-owned businesses list for 2019, and the article ran with the list’s release.
In this piece, Jessica Bryant explored how Mr. Caruncho’s business has changed with COVID-19.
What has Covid-19’s impact been on your industry?
Joe Caruncho, Genuine Health Group: We’re a group that coordinates and helps manage the care of Medicare patients, so our focus is on seniors. With a pandemic like this, they’re deferring their care. They’re not having elective procedures, cancer screenings or anything else right now. In the short term, this is a financial positive. But in the future, we have this huge windfall on earnings, and it’s just horrible for the health of the patients.
What emerging trends are you seeing as a result of the pandemic?
Caruncho: When an emergency like this hits, it becomes such an accelerant. There are things we’ve tried to encourage physicians and patients to do for years that have happened in a matter of weeks due to Covid-19. One of the biggest is obviously telehealth, but another is not to run to the emergency room every time you have a cough or cold. Still, there’s both a cultural and generational divide when it comes to telehealth. Many Hispanic seniors are not comfortable with telehealth appointments, so we’ll reach out to them and their caretakers to encourage them to make these virtual visits.
Keep reading at the South Florida Business Journal. If you have questions about Genuine Health Group, contact their team today.