Digital Debut
Flexibility and Rolling With Changes the Focus of ASCs While Reopening
Elective surgeries resume in certain states as COVID-19 cases cross 1 million in the US
BY SAHELY MUKERJI | APRIL 2020
ASCs in multiple states—Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia—resumed operation the week of April 27, 2020.
“This has been a long and challenging road, and it appears that we may be facing continued regulations that change frequently going forward,” says Chris D. Skagen, executive director of the Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Center Association in Denver, Colorado, and the Oregon Ambulatory Surgery Center Association in Salida, Colorado. “ASCs will have to have resiliency and mobility going forward.”
Colorado ASCs received an executive order (EO) from the governor’s office on April 26 that clarified what facilities would need to do to resume elective surgery on April 27. “That did not give us much time to prepare,” Skagen says. “Luckily, the criteria in the EO are in line with the existing guidance, and we have been in talks with the governor’s office to keep up with the regulations.”
A lot of the protocols for re-opening were the same as when the ASCs were closing, Skagen says. “For example, there is an intake desk for temperature screening, asking patients if they traveled, giving them hand sanitizer, etc.,” he says. “Everyone wants to see testing, but the question is where are we going to find adequate testing. And what can we do in lieu of a test if it is unavailable?”
ASCs already do a high level of screening for patients, says Tammy Burnett, president of the Mississippi Ambulatory Surgery Center Association in Jackson, Mississippi. “Other than screening visitors and wearing masks at all times, much of this is already covered in what we do,” she says. “The testing is confusing for many and not especially helpful. Thankfully, we do not expect to do a lot of testing if we are properly screening and our surgeons are diligent in their clinical evaluations.”
Going forward, Burnett expects to be busy “catching up and shaking off any rust that accumulated over the last month.”