OR Manager - June 2020 - 3

Editorial
www.ormanager.com
EDITOR
Elizabeth Wood * 301-354-1786 * ewood@accessintel.com
CLINICAL EDITOR
Judith M. Mathias, MA, RN
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Taylor McCarthy
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Vol. 36, No. 6 June 2020 * OR Manager (ISSN 8756-8047)
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C
oronavirus cases in the US
topped 1 million in late April. Although
total numbers of cases
and deaths change daily and vary
greatly among urban vs rural regions of
the country, it's safe to say we haven't
yet seen the last of the surges.
Despite ongoing shortages of personal
protective equipment, testing,
and-in some facilities-healthcare providers,
the government's mid-April announcement
of a phased reopening of
businesses gave hospitals and ambulatory
surgery centers (ASCs) the green
light they needed to reschedule elective
procedures that had been on hold.
Leading healthcare organizations
acted quickly to issue guidelines for
resuming surgery and hosted webinars
to recommend best practices ( " OR
leaders chart new territory for resuming
elective surgery, " cover story). In addition,
OR Manager spoke with leaders
at two different US facilities to share
their experience thus far with COVID19
( " Children's hospital revises patient
care criteria for COVID-19, " cover;
" ASCs following new rules for safety
during pandemic, " p 9).
Given the ongoing uncertainty about
the timeline of the virus, including a
possible resurgence later on, we will
continue to follow developments.
Financial fallout
Although we are still in the midst of the
pandemic, researchers have already
begun to assess the cost implications
associated with it. One recent study
projects a median cost of $3,045 in
direct medical costs for a single sympHow
do we
convince patients
that it's safe to
have surgery?
tomatic COVID-19 infection. Cost estimates
for 20% of the total US population
getting infected are projected to be
$163.4 billion, and that number rises to
$645 billion if as much as 80% of the
population gets infected.
The study's authors note that direct
medical costs are higher than those of
other common infectious diseases like influenza
because COVID-19 patients have
a higher likelihood of hospitalization and
mortality. And these enormous projected
expenditures, they say, are conservative
estimates that do not account for associated
costs such as loss of productivity,
premature mortality, worse disease
outcomes resulting from postponed preventive
care and diagnosis, or some of
the price gouging that has occurred as a
result of supply scarcity.
In addition to the high number of
deaths and ongoing danger of exposure
to the virus, the financial impact
of delaying surgical procedures cannot
be overstated. A " National Hospital
Flash Report " issued by consulting firm
Kaufman Hall in April shows staggering
losses sustained in March:
* Median operating margins dropped
from 4% in February to -8% in March
for hospitals nationwide.
* Operating earnings before interest,
Continued on page 5
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care and advancing the performance of their departments seek the CSSM®
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OR Manager - June 2020

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