Safety net practices are important for providing care to patients in underserved areas. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted these programs and their clinicians with previous studies having predicted that many clinicians are likely to leave their jobs as a result of the pandemic. More research is therefore needed to better understand the specific impacts of the pandemic on these clinicians and how they can be supported.

This report describes a study that utilized an online survey of clinicians at safety net practices in 2020 to determine which issues were most commonly experienced at their practice as a result of the pandemic and provides recommendations to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) on ways to support clinicians at safety net programs so that this workforce can endure and remain resilient.