10 Hospital Service Lines Most Impacted by COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to historic patient volume losses, and many major hospital service lines continue to see a significant impact on their volumes because of rising cases and lasting changes to consumer behavior.

Many consumers are putting off care out of fear of COVID-19 infection, especially since the US is hitting - even surpassing in some areas - COVID-19 numbers, including daily new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Both the increase in numbers and delayed care are impacting hospital volumes, according to the latest data update from Strata Decision’s National Patient and Procedure Volume Tracker.

Inpatient volumes, for example, were up by 6 percent after the Thanksgiving holiday compared to the previous 14 days even though volumes were down compared to the last 30 days and compared to 2019 levels, the data from 10 million encounters through Dec. 12th showed.

Meanwhile, outpatient volumes have rebounded to above 2019 levels, and had increased by 18.5 percent over the past 14 days.

But certain hospital service lines have been more impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic than others, according to the Tracker.

An obvious one is the infectious disease service line. The service line continued to grow in volume, up 98 percent the week of Nov. 15th compared to the week of Nov. 8th.

In the last Tracker report, which covered data through Nov. 7th, the service line grew by 86 percent.

General surgery, on the other hand, appears to be turning down again based on data through Nov. 21st, the Tracker found.

Total knee and hip replacement procedure volumes, in particular, have veered from 2019 volumes again, which may be “a harbinger of increased cancellation of elective procedures,” the Tracker stated.

Below are the 10 service lines that experienced the greatest change in volume before the new year

1. Infectious Disease: 7.7 percent
2. Burns and Wounds: -6.8 percent
3. Orthopedics: -6.1 percent
4. Spine: -6.1 percent
5. Behavioral Health: -4.8 percent
6. Neurosciences: -4.4 percent
7. Vascular: -4.1 percent
8. Neonatology: -3.7 percent
9. Nephrology: -3.2 percent
10. Endocrine: -3.1 percent