Impact of COVID-19 on the Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Quality Initiative Arterial Procedure Registry.

This manuscript describes the abrupt pivot of VQI physician members away from standard clinical practice to a restrictive phase of emergent and urgent vascular procedures in response to the pandemic. The Society for Vascular Surgery Patient Safety Organization queried both data managers and physicians in May 2020 to discern pandemic impact. Approximately three fourths (74%) of physicians adopted a restrictive operating policy for urgent and emergent cases only, yet one half considered 'time sensitive' elective cases as urgent. Data manager case entry was affected by both low case volume and staffing due to re-assignment or furlough. A seven-fold reduction in arterial VQI case volume entry was noted in 1st Quarter of 2020 when compared to same period in 2019. The downstream consequences of delaying vascular procedures for carotid, aortic, vascular access and chronic limb ischemia remain undetermined. Further ramifications of a pandemic shutdown will likely be amplified if resumption of elective vascular care extends beyond a short window of time.