Description:
This paper studies the effect of the long-term closure of office-based physician practices on patient healthcare utilization. First we show that the exit rate of office-based physician practices increased in 2020 using data from a nationwide US claims database. Treating this as a supply shock to patients, we then show that long-term physician practice closures increase the probability of visiting hospitals, emergency departments and the cost incurred per service. People from areas associated with greater disadvantage (lower income levels and higher shares of minority population) as well as the elderly and Medicare beneficiaries are disproportionately affected