COVID-19 Pandemic: Healthcare Professional Revenue Falls Nearly 50% Across Nation

COVID-19 pandemic: In the Northeast, the region hit hardest at that time by the pandemic, professionals experienced particularly sharp drops in utilization (80 percent) and revenue (79 percent) in April 2020.

Compared to April 2019 nationally, in April 2020 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare professional services declined 68 percent in utilization and 48 percent in revenue based on total estimated in-network amounts, stated new research.

In the Northeast, the region hit hardest at that time by the pandemic, professionals experienced particularly sharp drops in utilization (80 percent) and revenue (79 percent) in April 2020. These are among the findings of FAIR Health's third COVID-19 study, Healthcare Professionals and the Impact of COVID-19: A Comparative Study of Revenue and Utilization.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

‘During COVID-19 pandemic oral surgery and gastroenterology decline the most of the specialties studied.’

During March and April 2020, deferral of elective procedures and many routine in-person medical visits imposed a financial burden on healthcare providers and caused changes to their practices, such as a new emphasis on telehealth.

To study these issues, FAIR Health drew on its repository of private claims data to analyze, on a monthly basis, changes in utilization and estimated in-network reimbursement amounts for professionals in the first four months of 2020 as compared to the same months in 2019 (adjusted by Consumer Price Index).

The second part of the study focused on seven specialties: cardiology, dermatology, oral surgery, gastroenterology, orthopedics, pediatric primary care and adult primary care. For each specialty, FAIR Health analyzed changes in utilization and estimated in-network reimbursement amounts in the first four months of 2020 as compared to the same months in 2019, as well as changes in the five most common procedures in the first four months of 2020. Among the findings:

Indian Namaste the Preferred Greeting over Conventional Handshake
COVID-19 pandemic is causing changes in how we greet each other. The traditional Indian way of greeting with folded hands (Namaste) is now being preferred over handshake. Namaste has more to it than just being a greetings, read to find out

• Of specialties studied, oral surgery had the largest decreases in utilization and revenue in both March and April 2020. In March 2020, oral surgery utilization declined by 80 percent, and revenue based on total estimated in-network amounts dropped 84 percent; in April 2020, oral surgery utilization declined 81 percent and revenue 92 percent. Gastroenterology had the second largest decreases in all four categories.

• Of specialties studied, pediatric primary care had the smallest decreases in March 2020 utilization (52 percent), March 2020 revenue based on total estimated in-network amounts (32 percent), April 2020 utilization (58 percent) and April 2020 revenue (35 percent).

Clinical Trials of Therapeutics for COVID-19: Current Status
Clinical trials that are well-designed, well-planned and conducted in a timely manner will ensure the development of a safe and effective drug for the treatment of COVID-19 sooner than later.

• Comparing March 2019 to March 2020, utilization of professional services decreased 65 percent and professional revenue based on total estimated in-network amounts decreased 45 percent. In the Northeast, comparing March 2019 to March 2020, utilization of professional services fell 60 percent and revenue based on total estimated in-network amounts declined 55 percent.

• Across many specialties from January to April 2020, office or other outpatient evaluation and management (E&M) visits became more common relative to other procedures, both by utilization and total estimated in-network amounts. This may have been due in part to the fact that many of these E&M services could be rendered via telehealth, whereas certain other procedures that became less common required in-person visits.

Immunotherapy Tools Help Find Targets for COVID-19 Vaccine
New strategy, developed by CHOP researchers, would help generate a COVID-19 vaccine that would protect people across the population.

• In oral surgery, a procedure specifically for telehealth--telephone E&M by a physician or other qualified healthcare professional, 11-20 minutes (CPT® 99442)--climbed from number 131 in utilization in January 2020 to number 1 in April 2020.

• Total knee replacement (CPT 27447) and total hip replacement (CPT 27130) ranked high in the orthopedic top five procedures by total estimated in-network amounts in January 2020. They fell out of the top five by April 2020.

• For pediatric patients 0-4 years of age, there was little change in preventive care visits from March-April 2019 to March-April 2020, whether from the standpoint of utilization or of revenue based on total estimated in-network amounts. Decreases in these months were much greater for preventive care visits for older pediatric patients (5-17 years of age) and adults (18 and older).

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "As with past studies in our COVID-19 series, we again use FAIR Health's vast data repository to illuminate the impact of the pandemic. We hope this report will be useful to stakeholders throughout the healthcare sector, including providers, payors, policy makers and researchers."

This is the third in a series of briefs released by FAIR Health on the COVID-19 pandemic. The first brief examined projected US costs for COVID-19 patients requiring inpatient stays, and the second the impact of the pandemic on hospitals and health systems.

Source-Eurekalert