ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic caused large reductions in the use of medical services due to the cancellation of nonessential care and elective surgeries by providers and the avoidance of medical care by patients. As a result, health care providers sustained substantial financial losses. This resulted in layoffs and furloughs for health care personnel, adding economic stressors to health care providers who were already working under difficult conditions. The financing mechanisms for health care and structural features of the health care delivery system contributed to these large unanticipated consequences. Policy initiatives have the potential to reduce these adverse effects. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.