Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on provision of interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery services in Australia: a review of Medicare claims data.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted healthcare service provision worldwide. There is limited information on changes in invasive cardiovascular services during the pandemic, particularly in Australia.

AIM: We sought to assess temporal trends on the use of interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery services before and following the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

METHODS: Medicare Benefits Schedule items data from the Australian Government Services Australia on outpatient and private hospital interventional cardiology procedures (coronary angiogram, percutaneous coronary intervention and transcatheter aortic valve implantation) and cardiac surgery procedures (coronary artery bypass grafting [CABG] and surgical valve replacement, repair and annuloplasty) were analysed from March 2019 to 2021. This was superimposed on monthly COVID-19 case data obtained from the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care epidemiology reports.

RESULTS: A sustained reduction in CABG (-10.1%) and surgical valve intervention (-11.1%) was appreciated from March 2019-2020 to March 2020-2021, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, an overall increase (+25.9%) in the use of transcatheter aortic valve implantation was observed. Following the initial period of mandated isolation in March-April 2020, a reduction in coronary angiography (-29.1%) and percutaneous coronary intervention (-19.5%) was observed in comparison to March-April 2019; however, this was largely attenuated over time.

CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reductions in the use of interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery services, with cardiac surgery most affected. However, an increase in uptake of transcatheter aortic valve implantation has been observed during the pandemic. This may have implications for future planning and resource allocation in the aftermath of the pandemic.