Seeking to inform the recovery in medical procedures after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the delay or deferral of them over the past five months or so, Jefferies is observing 3,300 U.S. hospitals on a weekly basis, according to its analysis.
As of July 26, the analysts had the hospital traffic index at 58.7, slightly down from the previous week’s total of 59.1. Currently, hospital traffic is down 15.2% from late June.
The index had hit its most recent high of 69.2 on June 28, but that further illustrates a decline from the beginning of the pandemic in March, when the index sat around 90 points. In the months prior to that, the index remained around the 100-point mark.
In recent earnings reports, various executives at companies that have felt the financial wrath of deferred procedures have stated their expectation that those procedures will resume.
Stryker (NYSE:SYK) CEO Kevin Lobo noted that his orthopedic device-making company is “poised to capitalize on the broader resumption of deferrable surgeries.” Boston Scientific CEO Mike Mahoney said in the company’s earnings call that there was a recent uptick in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures, as well as in colonoscopies.
