3 Pressure Points that COVID-19 Brought to the US Healthcare Industry

COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic by the WHO (World Health Organization). Many countries are under its influence, spreading from continent to continent, forcing governments to announce lockdown and social distancing measures. Consequently, the healthcare system and medical billing companies, everybody geared up to counter this catastrophe and detain its risks and exposure to the public.

The Impact on the US Healthcare System

The American healthcare system was already financially unstable, and with the coronavirus outbreak, the financial complications can have a long-lasting effect on all stakeholders. It ultimately can lead to operational challenges such as disruptive quality of care and an imbalance supply and demand chain.

It is estimated that around seventy-six percent of healthcare providers are left with cash for only sixty days. On the other hand, outsourcing medical billing services are just concerned about the reimbursement risks that if the government will pay physicians or not.

The fluctuating deductibles and the uncertainty around payment models can persist and is an idea of constant worry among physicians and medical billing companies alike.

Here are three major vulnerable points, which might reflect negatively to a great extent in the US healthcare industry.

1. The Shortage of Medical Supplies and Drugs

FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) states that China ranks second for the USA exporting drugs and biologics. Also, it is a major exporter of medical supplies. There are almost twenty drugs that solely depend on China’s export of active ingredients or manufacturing.

The economic shutdown has also impacted the industry’s other leading useful devices, particularly devices run by the battery. The available essential supplies are already been used up by the medical practitioners to facilitate an overwhelming number of patients.

Getting additional supplies would be difficult to get in these strange times.

2. Safety Risks

Due to travel restrictions, the US regulatory authorities can’t inspect the exports for the healthcare industry. It will worsen the situation and add up further to the already decreasing supply chain. Ultimately, it is a risk to the safety of patients and healthcare professionals.

Fake/unauthorized medical supplies are also available on different retailing websites. However, they can pose a threat to human safety. Therefore, dealers like Amazon are removing them from the website in an attempt to restrict sellers claiming to have corona-prevention medicines.

3. The Disturbed Supply and Demand Chain

Apart from the essential medical supplies, the supply and demand of other services as medical billing and coding are also going through a tough time.

Generally, medical billing services are outsourced in order to achieve cost efficiency and productivity. The human resource and other administrative tasks also don’t require the in-build system. In fact, many hospitals now outsource them as well.

Due to COVID-19, everyone is bound to work from home, and this has slowed down the operations. The delayed execution of services has dent up operations and financial matters.

The Supply-Demand of Corona Vaccine

Although according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), anyone above sixteen years old is eligible to get the vaccine. However, we have a limited supply of vaccines from all manufacturers. It takes us to a situation where authorities have to map out a plan to administer the vaccine shots. Moreover, medical billing services execute a proper plan to send clean claims timely to the payers.

The solution is only to analyze and plan for the future while using resources efficiently. Find different supply vendors to fulfill with the supply chain, and hope for the best.

With a proper plan of action, this too will pass.