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Now more than ever, small business owners need to refine their operating procedures, become more efficient, and provide an outstanding product or service at the same time, to stay in business. By doing this, it is possible to be more lucrative day-to-day and more resilient during times of crisis. We are available to help you enable your physical therapy practice to thrive. (833) 764-0178 Info@PerformPracticeSolutions.com. Read the disturbing statistics of business closures during this pandemic, and give us a call to help you through. We CAN make the difference.

Yelp recently released its latest Economic Impact Report, revealing business closures across the U.S. are increasing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic’s economic toll.

As of Aug, 31, 163,735 businesses have indicated on Yelp that they have closed. That’s down from the 180,000 that closed at the very beginning of the pandemic. However, it actually shows a 23% increase in the number of closures since mid-July.

In addition to monitoring closed businesses, Yelp also takes into account the businesses whose closures have become permanent. That number has steadily increased throughout the past six months, now reaching 97,966, representing 60% of closed businesses that won’t be reopening.

“Overall, Yelp’s data shows that business closures have continued to rise with a 34% increase in permanent closures since our last report in mid-July,” Justin Norman, vice president of data science at Yelp, told CNBC.

Yelp’s September report marks six months since March 1, the date that the company considers to be the beginning of the business crisis.

In order to gather closure data, Yelp monitors changes in business hours or descriptions on its app, offering an immediate, localized view of the impact the pandemic has had on small businesses.

“Despite the hard-hit small businesses have certainly taken, we’ve seen that home, local, professional and automotive services have been able to withstand the effects of the pandemic better than other industries,” Norman noted.

The data supports the trend that most consumers are choosing to stay home over patronizing establishments physically, as home and professional services such as landscapers, contractors, and lawyers, see a much lower closure rate than clothing stores and even home decor businesses. Auto and towing services also reported a relatively low closure rate.

“Consumers still need these services,” Norman said. “Through the rise of virtual consultations and contactless or socially distanced services, these businesses have been particularly resilient during this time.”

Throughout the past six months, restaurants, bars, and nightlife venues have been hit the hardest by the restrictions brought by the pandemic: 32,109 restaurants have closed, as of Aug. 31. The number of restaurants forced to permanently close is slightly above Yelp’s total average, at 61%.

Yelp has also noted that businesses already well suited for takeouts, such as pizza places, coffee shops, and delis, are treading water better than other restaurants. The types of restaurants with the highest closures include breakfast and brunch places, sandwich shops, and Mexican restaurants.

Norman noted that policy changes in the coming weeks and months could have an impact on whether these closures turn permanent. “The continued rollout of indoor dining, especially in metros like New York City, will be worth watching as it will be critical for businesses to maintain the right balance of practicing social distancing and other responsible safety measures to ensure they can stay open.”

Bars and nightlife venues have also seen a large impact from the pandemic, as a business that can’t adapt as easily to outdoor dining or takeout. Despite being a sector that is six times smaller than restaurants, 6,451 venues have closed. The rate of permanent closures has increased by 10% since July, now sitting at 54%.

Retail saw a similar increase in permanent closures since July, rising 10% to a total of 58% indicated permanent. That’s out of 30,374 closed retail businesses.

The report showed a surprising month-over-month rise in permanent closures for beauty businesses — since July, about 42% more businesses were indicated as permanently closed. Total closures for the beauty industry sit at 16,585, which is a 22% increase since July.

Different states are also facing varying degrees of closures, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Yelp sees a correlation between states with a high number of closures and states with a high unemployment rate. Looking at closures per 1,000 for each state, Hawaii has been hit the hardest, followed by California, Nevada, Arizona, and Washington state. Hawaii’s unemployment rate sat at 13% in July, and the state also relies heavily on tourism.

“Due to the pandemic, these states were greatly impacted by travel restrictions and also face high rates of unemployment,” said Norman. “These states are also home to the hardest-hit metros including Las Vegas, Honolulu, and several of the largest California urban areas like San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles.”

Yelp has also noted discrepancies between large cities, where closures are higher and businesses are not faring as well, and smaller areas, which have proved more forgiving to small businesses. Los Angeles and New York report the highest number of closures: Los Angeles has seen 15,000 closures, half of which are permanent, and New York has seen more than 11,000 closures, with a high rate of 63% reported as permanent.

“Meanwhile, we’re actually seeing larger metros with fewer closures in the East, including Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore,” Norman noted.

Ultimately, Yelp’s data shows that Main Street is still feeling the economic impact of the pandemic, and many states and areas of business may not see a recovery soon.

“While it’s hard to say when we can expect business closures to stabilize, we’ve continued to see businesses successfully adapt to these uncertain times over the last six months thanks to their own hard work, innovation, and local policy changes,” Norman said.

Correction: Yelp on Wednesday released its latest Economic Impact Report. An earlier version misstated the report’s name.

Reference: {https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/16/yelp-data-shows-60percent-of-business-closures-due-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-are-now-permanent.html}

Let’s talk about your business challenges today.

Our fresh perspectives, experience, and specialized skill sets will get your practice where you want it, and with far less stress.

(833) 764-0178

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to running a successful medical practice. The problems that you need to tackle are important, but day-to-day patient care and daily operations take away from the time you have to dedicate to things such as billing, credentialing, management, marketing, and eligibility. This is where we come in! We take care of the important intricacies that are essential to the successful operation of your practice which in turn will allow you to focus on what is really important to you: your patients!

Billing: 

With our transparent billing system, we are radically changing the way your medical billing happens. We work with you and your Front Office staff to create efficient systems that will improve data processing and billing. With our billing system, you will see where exactly your payments go and we will help to manage and optimize your cash flow- freeing you up to focus on your patient care. We offer you fast, easy and transparent billing as well as the support your team needs to ensure your practice’s continued efficacy.

Credentialing:

It can be incredibly time-consuming to follow up and ensure that your staff is in-network with the largest payers every few months. In a world where time equals money, the time it takes to verify that your doctors or therapists are up-to-date with their credentialing is time-consuming and painstaking. The fact of the matter is, if your employee’s credentials lapse, you are not making any money. So, let us do it for you. We can keep your team’s credentials up to date as well as get your new members credentialed too. Typically, it can take up to six months to get your employees in-network with Medicare- we are able to do it in a fraction of the time. Just try us and see!

Eligibility:

Your Front Desk team is the face of the practice and often the first and last point of contact for your patients. It is hard for your front desk team to effectively and engagingly interact with your patients if they are tied up on the phone trying to determine patient eligibility. We want your front desk crew to be free to do what matters for your patients, so we offer the resources to determine patient eligibility and obtain specific verification codes, thereby freeing up the time for your front desk staff, allowing them to have the largest positive impact on patient experience as possible. Without a doubt, we can do this at a fraction of the costs of adding a new employee.

We want to help you build your perfect practice! We offer solutions to a wide range of medical entities – eligibility, credentialing, billing practices, and marketing, just to name a few. With the basic fundamentals in place, we can help you to optimize your day-to-day operations and improve your practice’s performance. Visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PerformPracticeSolutions or give us a call at (833) 764-0178 to see how we can help to elevate your physical therapy practice!

Let’s talk about your business challenges today.

Our fresh perspectives, experience, and specialized skill sets will get your practice where you want it, and with far less stress.

(833) 764-0178