The Impact of COVID-19 on Interventional Pain Management Practices is Significant and Long-Lasting: An Interventional Pain Management Physician Survey

• Published in: Pain physician 2022-03, Vol.25 (2), p.131-144
• Main Authors: Manchikanti, Laxmaiah, Pampati, Vidyasagar, Jha, Sachin Sunny, Sanapati, Mahendra R, Soin, Amol, Shah, Shalini, Kaye, Alan D, Hirsch, Joshua A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Communicable Disease Control; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Humans; Mental depression; Pain management; Pain Management - methods; Pandemics; Patients; Physicians; Sampling error; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States
• ISSN: 1533-3159; 2150-1149

As with many others in the house of medicine, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the practice of interventional pain management. This in part relates to various  state health authority or medical board restrictions with reductions in patient volume for evaluations, follow-ups, and procedures. Of course, the pandemic continues to persist which is in turn leading to longer-lasting effects. Our previous survey was performed in March 2020. At that time, there was a national lockdown in the United States with COVID-19 disease qualifying as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The pandemic caused by COVID-19 disease continues to have far-reaching implications on how we deliver routine care to patients and its effect on patient care, economic aspects, and health of interventional pain management providers. To assess the current and expected future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on interventional pain management practices in a physician survey. The study was performed based on performance in 2021 compared to the 2019 pre-COVID era. The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) administered a 16-question survey to their members by contacting them via a commercially available online marketing company platform. The survey was completed on www.constantcontact.com. The results showed that 88% of the providers experienced a reduction in income and a similar number expect decreases over the next 12 months. A large proportion of respondents (73.3%) reported a reduction in revenue of 11%-25%. In contrast, another 21.5% reported a revenue decline of 26%-50%, and 29% reported 11%-25% increase in expenses. Overall, new patient volume decreased 11%-25% based on the response from almost 63%, whereas almost 9% reported a decline of 26%-50%. In contrast, established patient volume declined 1%-10% as reported by 64% of the respondents, compared to an 11%-25% decrease by a small proportion of 14%. All interventional procedures showed significant decreases across the board, with 69% of the respondents reporting a decline in-office procedures, 64% in ambulatory surgery center (ASC) procedures, and 57% in hospital outpatient department (HOPD) procedures, ranging from 11%-25%. The survey included a relatively small number of member physicians which could introduce sampling error. Consequently, it may not be generalizable for other specialties or even to pain medicine. The COVID-19 pandemic has put interventional pain practices throughout the Un