With the Covid-19 pandemic creating the worst unemployment levels since the Great Depression, states are preparing for a drop off in the number of people with health coverage. Hospitals are already beginning to see the effects as they treat more uninsured patients, according to a report by Strata Decision Technology.
Unemployment rates reached 14.7 percent in April, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hospitals, meanwhile, have seen a steady uptick in the number of uninsured or self-pay patients in the last three months.
According to an analysis of patient visits from 228 hospitals across 40 states, about 7% of encounters were from uninsured or self-pay patients in January. In April, that number rose to 11%, and according to early data from May, 15% of all patients were uninsured.
Health systems have also seen a drop off in patient volumes and incoming revenue since the pandemic started. Strata compared data from 2 million patient visits during a two-week period in March and April with the same period in 2019.
Hospitals saw their patient volumes more than halved, as appointments were cancelled and surgeries were postponed. They saw a decrease of 54% compared to the same period in 2019, according to Strata.
Here are the inpatient procedures that saw the most cancellations:
- Primary knee replacement: 99%
- Lumbar/thoracic spinal fusion: 81%
- Primary hip replacement: 79%
Here are high-volume encounters that saw the most cancellations:
- Cataracts: 97%
- Sleep apnea: 91%
- Glaucoma: 88%
- Osteoarthritis: 88%
- Coronary heart disease: 75%
This translated to a total of $1.35 billion in lost revenue during the two-week period for health systems that participated in the study, according to Strata.
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