There’s the scene in Young Frankenstein when the character states, Could be worse, could be raining. The line is followed immediately the by sound of thunder and pouring rain. Lately, I’m reminded of that each time I ready the industry news and blogs. The message is that it is raining. Forty days and forty nights worth. Wet. Getting wetter. No towels in sight.

How’d we get there? We worked hard at it. What surprises me is how many providers are surprised by the situations in which they find themselves. During times like this patients discard marginal providers, the providers who never got around to valuing them. This is when it comes down to patient equity management (PEM)–providers who continue to manage by reacting to social media are going to continue to get wet.

It took years of mismanagement and lip service to make patients feel like they weren’t valued. Without a concentrated program of PEM it may take just as long to get them back. Rome wasn’t burnt in a day.