Doctors who focus on primary care checkups, endoscopies and other non-urgent services are facing tough times, notes Grumpy Editor.
As Axios points out, hospital care for COVID-19 and social distancing are taking priority, adding some doctors are reporting revenue falling 50 percent to 90 percent, as "loans and bailout money are helping some doctors stay afloat” while “the federal government and health insurers are paying doctors for telehealth visits, but that isn’t making up for lost revenue."
A survey of doctors indicates 20 percent of primary care practices believe they will temporarily close within a month.
Hospitals, insurance companies and private equity firms, which were rapidly buying practices before the pandemic, will view financially distressed practices as a golden opportunity, especially if the doctors are valuable sources of referrals, sees Axios.
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…
SUNDAY TRAVEL, SPORTS SECTIONS SUSPENDED. With vacations cancelled and professional sports on hold, The New York Times suspends travel and sports sections in its Sunday print edition. Sports news now is folded into the main section of the Sunday paper while travel coverage appears throughout the paper.
NAVY HOSPITAL SHIP READY TO DEPART. After three weeks in New York harbor — mostly without patients — the U.S. Naval hospital ship USNS Comfort readies for departure.
CNN STAFFERS ABANDON OFFICES. CNN president Jeff Zucker informs the network’s workforce that most staffers will not be returning to their offices until early September as precautions remain to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
FOX CHIEF FORGOES SALARY. Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch is forgoing his salary amid the coronavirus pandemic and 700 employees at the company will see pay reductions.
TV NEWS SHOWS NAKED HUBBY. Camera of KCRA-TV, Sacramento news reporter broadcasting from her home during the coronavirus pandemic, accidentally captures her naked husband taking a shower in the background.
MARINES TO CUT TANK BATTALIONS. The Marine Corps decides it must eliminate tank battalions and reduce its infantry and artillery units in 10 years as it converts its force to one more aligned with taking on potential adversaries such as China.
RIGHT TIME TO ORGANIZE? Writers at Wired magazine form an editorial union as Condé Nast, the publication’s parent company, plans deep cuts amid the coronavirus-fueled economic downturn that has ravaged the media landscape.
JOB LOSSES GROW. A Rasmussen Reports national survey finds 40 percent of American adults say they or someone in their immediate family has lost their job because of the coronavirus outbreak. That’s up from 32 percent from a month earlier.
WORLD'S INSECTS DWINDLE. Researchers are alarmed that the world has lost more than a fourth of land-dwelling insects in the past three decades. Bugs, they add, are disappearing at a rate just under one percent a year.
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