Hospitals Prepare for Elective Surgeries in May

April 21, 2020, 5 p.m. ·

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The Nebraska Hospital Association thinks the majority of hospitals will begin at least some elective surgeries early next month. Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Monday that the elective surgery ban would be conditionally lifted May 4.


The Hospital Association says many rural hospitals were struggling financially before COVID-19, and that elective surgeries make up the “meat and potatoes” of hospital work.

It’s unclear how many hospitals will chose to restart elective surgeries on May 4, but the hospital association believes the majority will. Each hospital must be able to show it has 30% of its overall beds available, 30% of its ICU beds, and 30% of its ventilators.

Andy Hale is vice president of advocacy for the Nebraska Hospital Association. He said hospitals will have to evaluate the state of the pandemic in their area.

“I think the ones that are in hot spot areas will probably have to sit down with their medical staff and make that decision on if they’re gonna open it up and how,” Hale said. “Are they gonna go all the way across the board or are they gonna start taking some hips and knees and those sorts of things?”

Hale said hospitals will be evaluating how much personal protective equipment they have on hand. They will also have to think through what would happen if the number of COVID-19 cases in their area increased quickly.

Officials at Bryan Health in Lincoln say they’ll take a cautious approach on how to resume elective surgeries

"I think the thing that we don't want to do in this community is open up elective surgeries and try to go 100% and then find out we're burning through all this equipment and have to shut it down again," said CEO John Woodrich. "I just don't believe that's good management or leadership for this community."

He says Bryan will likely begin with 50% capacity on elective surgeries to see how they impact personal protective equipment and blood supply on hand.

Jack Williams contributed to this report.