A new survey showed that just 7% of primary care practices cannot pay their bills, but the situation is still not ideal for these providers a year after COVID-19, as reported by RevCycleIntelligence.com.

Seven percent of the clinicians reported their practice is unable to pay bills on time, as compared to about a fifth of practices expected to close within a month because of financial hardship a year ago. It is a marked difference as primary care practices have seen marked improvements.

Primary care patient volumes are rebounding as the pandemic seems to have stabilized or improved. Now, over a year later, the survey found that primary care practices are conducting chronic-care follow-up (91 percent), screening patients for depression or anxiety (92 percent), and performing routine cancer screenings (79 percent). Additionally, many practices are establishing new partnerships with entities such as community organizations (28 percent), behavioral health services (27 percent) and local pharmacies (19 percent) to bolster services.

Primary care practices took a $15 billion hit during the early days of the pandemic, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School and the American Board of Family Medicine. Practices were slated to lose over $65,000 in revenue per full-time physician after drastic declines in both office visits and payments from March through May 2020, they projected.

That said, there are still economic challenges as primary care practices and other healthcare providers recover with increased patient visits and a return to a full complement of procedures. Proper medical coding can provide reliable reimbursements for primary care providers. Aviacode employs over 700 experienced AAPC and AHIMA certified coders who provide qualified outsourcing support for medical coding services, coding review, and auditing as needed.