Data Mine: Are medical groups better off today than they were four years ago?

Each election season brings a common question for the voting public: Are you better off today than you were four years ago? Usually, the question is part of a carefully crafted message that relies on the public’s selective memory of the past and ability to frame the narrative with information (and occasionally falsehoods) that favor a specific political view.

Four years ago marked the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which dramatically affected the U.S. economy and transformed how Americans lived and worked. Now, with society mostly returning to pre-pandemic norms, many have forgotten the challenges the nation faced during the height of the virus’ spread: 

• Non-essential businesses and schools closed or moved to remote work
• Football games were played in empty stadiums
• Emergency hospitals were set up in public parks
• More than 350,000 Americans died of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed medical groups and healthcare systems across the country, forcing many to cancel elective surgeries, impose strict limitations on patient access and adopt telemedicine as a substitution for in-person visits. Several 2021 and 2022 MGMA Connection articles detailed how physicians and medical groups responded to the crisis, as well as the short-term financial impacts of the pandemic on physician compensation, productivity and the overall financial health of practices.^1,2,3,4  

As the pandemic eased, Americans went on a buying spree, which, coupled with a severe supply chain disruption, led to a sharp rise in inflation, reflected in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). National inflation increased from 1.2% in 2020 to 4.7% in 2021, then to 7.4% in 2022, before moderating to 4.0% in 2023. This significant inflation over the past three years is evident in the higher prices for housing, energy, food, transportation and healthcare, which Americans now experience at much greater levels than they did before the pandemic.

While politicians speculate on the impact of inflation on the nation, the longitudinal data from the MGMA DataDive Cost and Revenue provides an objective view as to whether medical groups are faring better today compared to the recent past. The tables and graphs present survey data from 2020 for a four-year comparison, including the pre-pandemic financial landscape of 2019, providing a better understanding of how practices are performing today.