MAY 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 19
PAY CUTS EXECS CHIP IN
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
Dr. Raj Raina, president, CEO, and
owner of Medical Associates, based
in Hauppauge, has been taking care
of patients — and his practice.
A primary care doctor who runs the
six-site, multispecialty practice, he
has kept Medical Associates’ doctors,
nurses, and staff busy treating
COVID-19 patients as he puts his own
pay on pause. And he’s not alone
among doctors in private practice on
Long Island who are making sacrifices
to keep their doors open.
“I personally have not taken a paycheck
for the last couple of paychecks;
I’m living off my savings,” Dr. Raina
says, noting that his wife, a nurse, is
receiving a paycheck for helping to
run the COVID-19 test center at Jones
Beach State Park. “Once they opened
in Jones Beach, she was one of the first
to be there. She’s a coleader there,
scheduling patients.”
While healthcare providers and
hospitals are on the front lines of
the COVID-19 crisis, physicians
without the resources of hospitals
are facing financial and medical challenges,
sometimes making financial
sacrifices.
“We’re living right now on income
we produced in the past, hoping the
government gives us some help,” Dr.
Raina says, saying that his 79-person
practice didn’t get help from the first
tranche of funds. “It’s very hard in
our industry to train people.”
Many physician practices face financial
troubles, according to a survey
by the Medical Society of the State of
New York (MSSNY). The society says
83 percent of respondents saw patient
volume drop by more than half, while
80 percent’s revenue fell by at least
half since the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The impact has devastated practices
and the hundreds of thousands of
New Yorkers they employ,” says Dr.
Art Fougner, president of MSSNY.
“Many doctors are working alone or
with a skeleton staff.”
More than a quarter had to lay off or
furlough more than half of their employees
and about two thirds applied
for forgivable loans, but most hadn’t
received help before the first round
of funding closed.
“Our first priority remains to ensure
that our patients, through the crisis,
can continue to receive the care they
need,” Dr. Fougner continues. “But
we need to know if our practices can
“I stopped taking a paycheck to be able to pay
my team,” says Ron Loveland.
keep their doors open for patients
now and in the future.”
Other healthcare providers, also
considered essential, are taking steps
to keep producing, as CEOs reduce or
suspend their compensation or pay
employees who are unable to work.
Hauppauge-based American Diagnostic
Corporation, which employs
117 on Long Island, makes thermometers,
stethoscopes, blood pressure
instruments, pulse oximeters used to
measure oxygen, and other medical
devices.
“Our products are experiencing
an unprecedented level of demand
unlike anything we’ve experienced
in our 35 years,” ADC CEO Marc Blitstein
says. “We have shipped nearly
1 million diagnostic instruments to
our distributors since mid-February.”
He says about 30 plant workers are
on paid leave out of concerns for
coronavirus exposure. “We’re utilizing
temps where possible and
lots of overtime to meet demand,”
Blitstein says.
ADC transitioned many workers
to paid leave at home, including
the elderly and vulnerable, although
manufacturing continues, and took
measures to make the workplace
safer, including spacing, safety equipment,
and other steps.
Melville-based Henry Schein CEO
Stanley Bergman, who received $14.4
million in compensation last year, including
about $1.5 million in salary,
isn’t taking a salary from April 6 to
June 30. Several other Schein executives
are temporarily cutting their
salary in half and board members are
taking a temporary 25 percent cut.
Other CEOS have been taking cuts or
suspending their salary, such as Ron
Loveland, president of Summit
Safety and Efficiency
Solutions in Miller
Place.
“I stopped taking
a paycheck to be
able to pay my
team,” Loveland
says.
Ernie Canadeo,
CEO of The EGC
Group in Melville,
temporarily
stopped taking a
salary once he closed
the office and cut the
rent that he, as
landlord, charges his company.
Canadeo, whose firm received a
forgivable SBA payroll loan, says
the loan is “a tremendous help, while
business is down substantially.”
The federal government, meanwhile,
made it easier for physicians
to do virtual visits, increasing
patient and provider safety, but
Raina said that typically leads to $50
reimbursements.
“We’re mostly getting patients who
have COVID-19 infection,” Dr. Raina
says, adding that most are virtual
visits. “Our revenue came mostly
from stress tests, echocardiograms,
and allergy tests.”
Dr. Raina is still getting funds
from previous work, since insurer
payments typically lag two months
behind.
“I don’t want to lose employees,”
Dr. Raina says. “They know
what they’re doing. I would
not want to start again.
I’ve tried to keep everyone
going. If I go through
this year without a loss,
I will think it is a good
thing for me. I’m not sure
that’s going to happen,
though.”
CORNER OFFICE
Dr. Raj Raina, president, CEO, and owner of Medical Associates, is among local
business leaders taking pay cuts amid the pandemic.
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