Unprecedented: Cardiology providers lost an estimated $506M in revenue in the pandemic’s early months
The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic did substantial damage to the U.S. healthcare system, causing much less money to be spent on physician services than the industry had anticipated.
In fact, according to a new report from the American Medical Association (AMA), the pandemic resulted in an estimated loss of $9.4 billion for Medicare providers in the first six months of 2020 alone.
As a specialty, cardiology lost an estimated $506 million in that same timeframe. Huge losses were also observed in ophthalmology ($766 million), internal medicine ($648 million) and diagnostic radiology ($627 million).
“The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant financial stress on medical practices as expenses have spiked and revenues have dropped,” AMA President Susan R. Bailey, MD, said in a prepared statement. “For practices that have struggled to remain viable as the pandemic stretches on, many will face a difficult and precarious road to recovery. The AMA report adds new insight on the economic impact of the pandemic that has threatened the viability of physicians who participate in Medicare.”
Medicare spending was down from January to June 2020 across all specialties and regions, according to the report. Spending for both medical imaging and evaluation and management services took massive hits early on, according to the report, though those areas were able to mostly stabilize by the summer months.
The AMA report also highlighted the expanded role of telehealth during the pandemic. While telehealth services made up less than 0.1% of Medicare spending on physician services in prior years, that number skyrocketed to 16% by April 2020.
Interested parties can download the full AMA report here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.