Physician Practice Interruption Increased Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Physician practice interruptions, like declining patient volumes and claims submitted, were abundant in 2020 compared to the previous year, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Many physicians practicing in outpatient settings saw a decrease in visits starting in March 2020, the onset of the pandemic. Their visit volumes did not return to pre-pandemic levels until September 2020.

Researchers analyzed physician claims from Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries between January 1, 2019, and December 30, 2020, to see how many physicians experienced practice interruptions.

A practice interruption, for the purpose of the study, was a month in which a physician who had billed for Medicare previously did not have any Medicare claims.

Interruptions with return included times when the physician resumed billing for Medicare within six months of the last billing month. Interruptions without return were those for which the physician did not resume billing within six months.

Researchers also looked at physician characteristics including age, sex, practice size, and practice location. The results included data from 547,849 physicians who billed for Medicare services.

Practice interruptions remained similar before and after the pandemic, with the exception of April 2020, when more than 35,000 physicians experienced a practice interruption.

Healthcare utilization was low at the beginning of the pandemic, with stay-at-home orders in effect across the country.

In April 2020, 1.14 percent of physicians stopped practicing and did not return, an increase from 0.33 percent in 2019. Physicians ages 55 and older saw a greater increase of practice interruptions with and without return in 2020 compared to younger physicians, the study noted.

This data is consistent with past survey findings around older physicians intending to retire, close their practices, or transition away from clinical medicine, according to the researchers.

Female physicians, physicians in smaller practices, and those with practices in a metropolitan area experienced high rates of practice interruption in April 2020, but they also had high rates of return.

The pandemic brought decreased healthcare use from patients, but it has also increased the likelihood of physician shortages.

The Association of American Medical Colleges predicted that the US will see a shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by the year 2034.

The population of individuals 65 years and older is expected to increase by 42.4 percent by 2034, meaning that more older Americans will require care and more older physicians will retire.

Physician burnout and healthcare worker fatalities from COVID-19 may also contribute to a physician shortage.