Mar 14, 2020 - Health

Surgeon general asks hospitals to stop elective surgeries

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams. Photo: Chris Usher/CBS via Getty Images

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is asking hospitals to consider stopping elective surgeries as the coronavirus spreads.

What Adams is saying: "Hospital & healthcare systems, PLEASE CONSIDER STOPPING ELECTIVE PROCEDURES until we can #FlattenTheCurve! Each elective surgery you do: 1) Brings possible #Coronavirus to your facilities 2) Pulls from PPE stores 3) Taxes personnel who may be needed for #COVIDー19 response," Adams tweeted on Saturday morning.

The state of play: Some hospitals already had started canceling or postponing elective surgeries, MarketWatch writes.

UCSF Health hospitals are postponing up to 7,000 appointments a day, per MarketWatch.
Doctors have noted high risk or elderly patients are currently canceling elective surgeries, such as knee replacements, that require general anesthesia, Modern Healthcare reports.

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U.S. coronavirus updates: Largest 24-hour spike in fatalities

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

New York's death toll from the novel coronavirus surged to its highest one-day total on Tuesday, as the U.S. saw its largest 24-hour spike in fatalities, per Johns Hopkins data. Recorded deaths across the U.S. surpassed 13,000 Wednesday.

Why it matters: Public health officials have warned this would be a particularly deadly week for America, even as New York began to see trends of hospitalizations and ICU admissions decrease.

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Quorum Health files for bankruptcy

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Quorum Health, the chain of small community hospitals spun out by Community Health Systems, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and secured $300 million to keep operations going throughout the process.

The bottom line: Quorum said none of its 23 hospitals will close, and employees will be paid and available to provide care during the coronavirus pandemic. But the company, which has been crushed by debt and was nearly bought out by one of its private equity owners, will remain in a precarious financial position even once it emerges from bankruptcy.

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