3 proven ways to prepare your practice for the winter patient surge

The winter wave is upon us. Colds, flu and respiratory illnesses spread as cold weather keeps people indoors, and large groups congregate for holiday celebrations. These issues, decorating injuries, hypothermia and other challenges also lead to a surge in emergency room visits.

That keeps physicians’ offices, clinics and hospitals awash in appointment requests and patient arrivals. The rush of patients and paperwork just as staff head out for the holidays, and call in sick with greater frequency, creates a perfect storm – often overwhelming staff with a flood of administrative tasks; intensifying already widespread scheduling gaps, slow claims processing and compliance issues; and forcing doctors to tread water for hours, days, weeks or months.

Here are three ways to stay afloat during the winter wave and optimize operations all year long.

1. Think about what’s at stake

Three-fourths of medical practices cite scheduling gaps, slow claims processing and compliance administration as their biggest operational pain points, according to our 2025 Medical Staffing Trends Unveiled report. These are the exact high-pressure zones that intensify during the winter wave – leading to appointment delays, overextended providers and ER bottlenecks.

This adds up to extra hours for administrative staff and costly overtime for the practice. Doctors often lend a hand with administrative tasks when they see that stretched staff are struggling to keep up. But that can extend doctors’ days by hours, adding stress that may make doctors themselves more likely to get sick. Ultimately, some doctors may even decide to look for career opportunities at properly staffed medical facilities that allow them to focus on treating patients.

Despite the group efforts that often go into addressing ballooning administrative tasks, many medical facilities are still unable to schedule patient appointments quickly and efficiently. As a result, patients may become frustrated and go elsewhere. The inability to schedule and bill in a timely manner can also make it challenging for practices to afford office overhead and grow.

2. Identify where your shortages are

Rather than assuming doctors and staff can pick up the slack if you are short by one or more team members during the winter wave, the reality is that it could be quite painful – for your administrative staff, your doctors, your practice’s health and the patients you keep waiting.

Assess staffing by polling your administrative team and managers to understand where they are. Think about the extent to which doctors are or will feel the need to help with such tasks at a time in which Stanford Medicine says U.S. physician burnout rates remain “worryingly high.”

Be open to new ways of addressing administrative tasks. Local hiring is not always the answer.

3. Rethink what remote really means

The solution to winter staffing challenges isn’t simply going remote, it’s going flexible. Today’s leading practices are adopting workforce platforms that connect them to certified, compliant administrative talent — supported by secure systems, continuous training, and real-time oversight.

It’s not about outsourcing tasks; it’s about integrating global, high-performing teams into your operations with the same compliance, technology, and accountability you’d expect in-house.

That means your practice can scale faster, maintain HIPAA standards, and keep patient experience seamless — even during the busiest months of the year. Now you can provide the best experiences for your patients, staff and doctors – and turn seasonal staffing pressure into a year-round operational advantage.

Rihan Javid, D.O., J.D., is a psychiatrist and co-founder of Edge, the Flexible Workforce Platform for high-compliance industries like healthcare. Edge unites skilled talent, secure systems, and AI-driven processes to help practices scale efficiently — without compromising compliance or care.