Primary-care practices fear they may not survive the pandemic

Primary care practices focus on the preventive care that keeps patients healthy. Many of them are small but punch above their weight in providing access to services in underserved communities.

A series of new surveys by researchers at NYU have found that the city’s primary care practices have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. Many of them worry they may not come out on the other side.

Initial survey results collected in mid-April yielded responses from nearly 500 primary care practices across the city and revealed that the COVID-19 crisis was having a severe impact on 85% of them, NYU said. The most common sources of stress included shortages of personal protective equipment, which 53% of respondents reported. Nearly half noted strain from large volumes of patient calls, and 42% reported struggles with staff illness.

For practices that remained open, more than half of patient visits were completed via video or telephone, the researchers found. However, some providers were unsure whether they would be reimbursed for them.

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