News: Outpatient visits fell nearly 60% during COVID-19, research shows

A Commonwealth Fund study performed by researches from Harvard University found that outpatient visits for more than 50,000 providers declined by nearly 60% in mid-March when COVID-19 cases began growing most rapidly.

A majority of this decline is likely due to CMS recommendation to cancel elective procedures. While the precautions are keeping both patients and providers from being exposed to the virus, it is also negatively financial impacting practices.

Providers have been using telehealth visits to offset cancellations and postponements of these non-emergent visits, but the volumes of these appointments have not been enough to completely offset the drop in in-office visits. This is likely do in part to lesser volumes of telehealth appointments than in-person, but also potentially because of providers not being fully reimbursed for these virtual visits.

The study found the decline in visits was generally among surgical and procedural specialties, while there was a smaller outpatient visit decline for adult primary care, oncology, and behavioral health.

While outpatient visits have remained low through mid-April, according to the study, CMS’ recommendations for restarting non-emergency healthcare will hopefully help bring more patients back into the in-person setting.

Editor’s note: The Common Wealth study can be found here. To read the rest of ACDIS’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, click here. To read about CMS’ guidance for restarting non-emergency healthcare, click here. Don’t forget to respond to our newest poll on CDI reviews of telehealth documentation! Click here to weigh in today.