The board of directors of the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics (ABC) released the results of its survey on the effects businesses felt at the height of the pandemic and identify the steps being made toward recovery.
To get a clear picture of the impact the public health emergency (PHE) has had on ABC stakeholders, a preliminary survey was sent to a small group of ABC certifees in April to set an early benchmark on how the pandemic was affecting O&P. ABC followed up with a survey in July to a larger, more diverse and representative subset of all ABC-certified individuals. The July survey focused on identifying impacts on employment, patient volume, and practice revenue.
The report highlights were as follows:
· Patient volumes were returning. When individual clinicians were asked about the pandemic’s effects on their clinics’ operations, 85 percent confirmed there was a reduction in the number of patients. Since the peak of the crisis, 65 percent reported seeing an increase in patient visits, with 53 percent returning to 75-100 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
· Nearly all (93 percent) of the owner/practice managers reported a moderate-to-severe reduction in patient visits at the height of the crisis. Seventy-three percent later reported a clear increase, with 56 percent reporting a return to 50-75 percent of pre-pandemic patient levels.
· Employee work hours were increasing. More than half (57 percent) of individual practitioners reported that their work hours were reduced at some point during the PHE. Now, 75 percent report they are once again working full-time hours.
· Financial impacts on clinics is less than anticipated. When asked to describe the financial impact to date, nearly two-thirds of owner/managers reported seeing a mild or moderate (10-50 percent) drop in revenue. This is a significant departure from the initial survey, where 57 percent of the respondents stated that they anticipated a high-to-severe (50 percent plus) drop in revenue. In both surveys, about 5 percent of respondents reported no anticipated or realized drop in revenue due to the pandemic.
To view the report, visit ABC’s website.
