Shrinking and disappearing doctors' offices could trigger public health crises as sick patients go untreated and children do not receive important vaccines.
It's not just doctors' offices in New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the U.S., that are experiencing financial hardship. Some 51% of primary-care providers are uncertain about their financial future over the next four weeks, and 42% have either laid off or furloughed staff, according to aby the nonprofit Primary Care Collaborative and Larry A. Green Center. In addition, 13% predict closure within the next month.
"We're a small business and our profit margin is 3% or 4%," Flick said. "It does not take a lot of business sense to know when the volume of patients is down 70%, you're in trouble." But as demand for testing soared, the practice decided it was safer to see potential coronavirus patients in their cars in the parking lot. The staff's personal protective equipment — N95 masks and gowns, in particular — started to run low. And in a matter of days, the practice's inventory of nasal swab tests from LabCorp was on the verge of running out. They decided to reserve what was left to test staff members in case they show symptoms.
In difficult financial straits, Family Medical Associates has sought to compensate for the drop in office visits by rapidly transitioning to telemedicine, but patient volume is still down overall by more than 25%. Flick and two physicians who own the practice took 45% pay cuts while the practice's other two doctors took 25% pay cuts.
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