On March 18, 2020, CMS temporarily banned “elective surgeries, and non-essential medical, surgical, and dental procedures ” in order to reserve hospital and ICU capacity exclusively for COVID-19 cases.
Editor's Note: This article originally posted on CipherHealth's website.
One month later, these restrictions were loosened and care facilities began to slowly reopen for office visits, outpatient tests, and elective procedures that had been deferred.
Now, as we face another surge in COVID-19 that threatens to be worse than anything we’ve seen to date, hospitals are again starting to postpone or cancel elective procedures to free up space and ensure proper staffing and PPE to care for COVID-19 patients. These actions, while they may be necessary in certain regions, can also have devastating results.
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