Surveying COVID-19 Financial Impact on Providers

By Clive Riddle, May 15, 2020

NEPC’s Healthcare Practice Group has just released survey results from a diverse set of healthcare organizations around the country on financial steps they are taking during the pandemic. Here's what NEPC found:

• ·         78% have or will access lines of credit
• ·         96% anticipate additional government assistance
• ·         61% have already, or plan on, furloughing staff
• ·         43% have already, or plan to, suspend or postpone retirement plan contributions (28% of with organizations $2B in assets did so,  compared to 63% with a credit rating of BBB or lower)
• ·         56% said their daily burn rates increased by up to 25%, while 23% of respondents indicated a daily burn increase of more than 25%
• ·         28% of East Coast organizations had 25%+ burn increases, vs 8% of West Coast organizations

In late April, Merritt Hawkins and The Physicians Foundation released national physician survey results that found

• ·         48% are treating patients through telemedicine, up from 18% in 2018
• ·         21% of physicians have been furloughed or experienced a pay cut
• ·         14% plan to change practice settings as a result of COVID-19
• ·         18% plan to retire, temporarily close their practices, or opt out of patient care

Also, the California Medical Association in late April released the results of its COVID-19 Physician Financial Health Survey, which found that "95% of physician practices are worried about their financial health due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Practice revenue has declined by 64% since March 1, 2020, with 75% of practices experiencing a revenue decline of 50% or greater."