Distribution of Paycheck Protection Program to otolaryngology practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted physician practices in many ways with some ENT clinics reporting around a 50% drop in completed scheduled ENT visits during the first wave of the pandemic compared to 2019.

Aims: This study surveyed first round PPP loan disbursement to otolaryngology practices in the United States in response to COVID-19.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using publicly available data published on PPP by the SBA. Otolaryngology clinics receiving loans greater than $0.15M were filtered using the following terms: "otolaryngology", "otolaryngologist","sinus", "head and neck", "throat", "ENT", and "facial plastic". 481 ENT clinics that received loans greater than $0.15 M from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) were identified. Loan amount, business type, geographicregion, owner race, owner gender, and the number of jobs per business were recorded for each clinic. Chi-square analysis was performed to determine significance ( < 0.05) of each characteristic.

Results: Loan distribution was significantly different based on jobs reported ( < .001) and business type ( < .001). 100% of loans ranging from $0.15 M to $0.35 M went to micro and small practices whereas 33% of medium-sized practices received loans greater than $1 M. Higher proportions of Subchapter corporations (60.00%) received smaller loans of $0.15 to $0.35 M than Limited Liability Companies (39.13%) and Corporations (51.69%) which generally employ more people.

Discussion: Loan distribution was significantly different between businesses based on jobs reported ( < 0.001), with micro/small practices recieving smaller loans than their medium counterparts. All large businesses recived loans in in excess of $2 M. This suggests proportional distribution of loans in accordance with jobs reported.

Conclusion: This study suggests PPP funding was objectively distributed to ENT clinics based on staff size.

Level Of Evidence: Level 4.