Like most independent medical practice physicians struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, Austin pediatrician Brian Temple, MD, had to make a critical choice: reduce salaries and work hours, or lose the staff and pediatric practice he and his partner had built over six years.

“From the beginning of March, when all this hit, business has been down 50 to 60 percent. We’ve had to decrease hours for everybody,” Temple said. “We initially cut the nurse practitio...