More than 50% of Mass. medical practices considering furloughs
Photo | Grant Welker
A sign on I-290 in Worcester advises people coming into Massachusetts to qurantine themselves to slow the spread of coronavirus.
More than half of primary care medical offices are weighing furloughs or layoffs and nearly half of medical procedural specialist offices are considering closing their practices because of the financial hit they've taken from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.
The results in a survey of more than 400 practices of all provider types across Massachusetts shows how significant the toll has been to not only acute-care hospitals treating the most ill patients but also practices that have had to upend their schedules during the worst of the pandemic.
Medical procedural specialists appear the hardest hit. More than 60% in that field said they were considering furloughs or layoffs, pay cuts, or cutting services or expenses, the survey found. Closing the practice was being weighed by 42%, and 33% said they were considering selling the practice.
More than half of primary care offices said they were considering furloughs or layoffs, pay cuts, or cutting services or expenses. In 22% of cases, primary care offices said they were considering merging with other practices, and 23% said they were considering closing their practice.
"That's dramatic and way above what I thought we'd be seeing," commission member Donald Berwick said at the commission's June 10 meeting of the number considering closing their practices.
Survey results did not specify whether practices had already taken such actions, according to details provided by the Health Policy Commission. The survey was done in late May to early June, with the commission working with the Massachusetts chapter of the American College of Physicians and other academic partners.
The results were weighed in consideration of the size of the practice. The sample is not necessarily representative of all practices and the results are preliminary, the commission said.
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