ARTICLE SUMMARY:
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a severe toll on the financial health of many US providers and upended their purchasing plans, as elective surgery revenues largely disappeared and fearful or cash-strapped non-COVID patients avoided ERs and doctors' offices.
ICUs and emergency rooms in the Northeast may still be filled with COVID-19 patients, but visits by non-COVID patients—both to hospitals and doctors’ offices—have plummeted nationwide during the pandemic, putting providers of all kinds under severe financial strain. Some clinical specialties are more deeply impacted than others, but recent surveys offer a pretty clear picture of a fearful and financially strapped US populous that has been putting off routine, and perhaps even urgent, medical care until better times arrive.
