Elective Surgeries Resume Across Tennessee On Friday

Tennessee hospitals and surgery centers will be able to resume elective procedures as soon as Friday, May 1. Gov. Bill Lee said this afternoon he will not extend the executive order that banned procedures like joint replacements and colonoscopies.

The Tennessee Hospital Association has issued guidelines that will be required of institutions. They include:

• Screening patients for COVID-19 symptoms, and even testing certain patients at high risk
• Screening staff and visitors for symptoms
• Requiring N95 masks and eye protection for health care workers during procedures and limiting the number of people in each operating room
• Continuing to restrict visitation while requiring any visitors to wear mouth and nose coverings
• Separating waiting room chairs by a minimum of 6feet
• Installation of signage explaining social distancing, coughing etiquette, wearing of mouth coverings and hand hygiene

Elective procedures will likely resume at varying speeds in different parts of the state. Tennessee has eight hospital districts, where hospitals have been asked to come to a consensus on how to phase in procedures. The districts that include Nashville and Memphis have far more cases of COVID-19 than the rest of the state.

Hospitals have been hit by a financial paradox with the coronavirus. They had to cancel elective procedures, where most hospitals make much of their profit margin, to conserve protective gear like masks, face shields and gowns. But most hospitals haven’t seen a big flood of patients needing hospitalization from COVID-19.

“Tennessee has successfully flattened the curve such that hospitals throughout the state have abundant capacity to resume operations and will do so while assuring their ongoing ability to safely meet the needs of Tennessee communities,” Long said at Monday’s press briefing. 

An analysis by THA found that Tennessee hospitals were losing $1 billion a month because of the ban. Cookeville Regional Medical Center has furloughed 400 employees, Maury Regional Medical Center furloughed 340 and TriStar closed all but the emergency department at its Ashland City hospital.