Independent practices experienced a smaller drop in patient volume than larger health systems at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent study published in the JAMA Health Forum.
The study used claims data from FAIR Health, a national database covering approximately 75 percent of the privately insured population in the U.S., in addition to data from 32,316 physicians in independent practices and 4,596 physicians in integrated practices.
The study found that primary care physicians in integrated practices saw relatively fewer total patients compared to those in independent practices in the first 18 months of the pandemic, which the study suggests could imply that they were under less financial pressure to maintain patient volume.
Physicians in integrated practices had a greater increase in the proportion of telehealth patients compared with independent practice physicians, however, which the authors said may be due to the difference in resources available to adopt telehealth technology.