At the beginning of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, the ABC Board of Directors recognized the potential for a significant impact on all ABC credential holders. In order to get a clear picture of the impact the emergency has had on ABC stakeholders, ABC staff was tasked with creating a survey to gauge the consequences.

The survey focused on identifying impacts on employment, patient volume and practice revenue. It was sent to a diverse group of practitioners, in varied practice settings across the U.S., in order to be representative of the impact on the O&P profession nationwide.

Report Highlights

Employees responded that they are seeing a reduced number of patients with more than half saying that the number of patients seen per day was reduced by more than 50%. Over 60% of employees stated that their work hours have been reduced as a result of the pandemic.

Almost all (96%) owners/managers responded that their patient volume per day had decreased by more than 50% and 12% stated that they are currently not seeing any patients. Close to half of owner/manager respondents reported that the size of their staff, including residents, has been reduced during the pandemic.

When asked to describe the financial impact on their practices, 35% answered that the impact was Moderate, 31% said the impact was High and 25% of respondents answered that the anticipated impact was Severe. Only 6% thought there would be no impact on their anticipated revenue.

Click here to view the full survey report.

*This survey was intended to take the pulse of the profession at the height of the pandemic, and are not intended to identify the long-term impacts on practices and individuals in the profession.

For additional COVID-19 information and resources, please visit our dedicated  COVID-19 resources page.