Providers in COVID-19 hot spots that emerged in June and July saw a drop in office visits, according to a new report by researchers at Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard University, Phreesia and The Commonwealth Fund.
Researchers analyzed changes in visit volume for 50,000-plus provider clients of Phreesia, a healthcare technology company. They have tracked changes through a series of updates in late April, mid-May and late June. The latest installment describes visit trends through Aug. 1.
Five takeaways:
1. Visits to physician offices and other healthcare practices have rebounded from 60 percent below pre-pandemic levels in early April to 10 percent below normal by Aug. 1.
2. The cumulative number of office visits since mid-March "remains substantial and continues to grow," the report said.
3. Arizona, Florida and Texas saw a decline in provider office visits as COVID-19 cases surged in June and July, although the decline was slight compared to earlier in the pandemic. Visit volumes in other states with case surges held steady.
4. In the Northeast, volumes lagged behind visit rates in other states despite "relatively low weekly new case counts."
5. Telemedicine utilization rates suggest that practices in Arizona, Florida and Texas maintained most of their visit volume throughout COVID-19 surges by increasing telemedicine visits and implementing new safety protocols for in-person visits.