Published In
Southern Economic Journal
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2023
Subjects
COVID 19 (Disease) -- United States -- Health Care
Abstract
Using data generated through simulated patient calls to a national random sample of primary care physicians between February and July 2020, we examine the effects of the first wave of COVID-19 on the availability of the U.S. primary care physician workforce for routine new patient appointments. As states enacted stay-at-home orders, physicians overall became less selective by insurance, and there was a 7 percentage-point increase in acceptance of patient insurance. Telemedicine appointment offers increased 10.2 percentage points from near zero. However, relative to younger counterparts, physicians older than the sample mean (53.1 years) became 18.1 percentage points less likely to offer appointments and decreased their estimated appointment duration by 7.1 min. Compared to male physicians, female physicians became 10 percentage points more likely to accept new patients. These insights into appointment offers during the first wave of COVID-19 may help policymakers seeking to ensure an adequate physician workforce during future crises.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1002/soej.12669
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41080
Citation Details
Wisniewski, J., Walker, B., Tinkler, S., Stano, M., & Sharma, R. (2024). The COVID‐19 pandemic and primary care appointment availability by physician age and gender. Southern Economic Journal.