Impact and Recovery of VHA Epilepsy Care Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

Background: The Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (ECoE) is a network of facilities within the Veterans Health Administration that evaluates and treats veterans with epilepsy and seizure disorders. This article outlines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted ECoE services and recovery.

Methods: Directors of 17 ECoEs were surveyed 4 times between May 2020 and July 2022 on 5 domains: functioning of outpatient epilepsy clinics, outpatient electroencephalogram, epilepsy monitoring unit, anticipated permanent operational changes, and utility of national and local recommendations. Data on the spread of COVID-19 and administrative workload data were compared with the availability of epilepsy services.

Results: There was an increase in in-person outpatient visits from May 2020 (1 of 13 sites) to June 2022 (all 16 sites). Similar increases were also observed for outpatient electroencephalogram from 4 of 13 sites and subsequently all 16 sites, and for epilepsy monitoring unit from 1 of 12 sites to 11 of 16 sites. The spread of COVID-19 did not correlate with the availability of services. Respondents predicted telehealth would be a permanent change.

Conclusions: Comprehensive ECoEs within the Veterans Health Administration increased services during the COVID-19 pandemic without demonstrating an association to the disease's spread.