As the COVID-19 pandemic curve starts to flatten in some states, you are probably itching to ramp back up to full speed in your ASC. As we ease into a post-pandemic new normal, consider these tips for ramping up to full capacity post-COVID-19.  

As ASCs prepare to re-open post-COVID-19, infection control is first and foremost on everyone’s mind. What protocols does your ASC have in place to make infection prevention a priority?

In some regions, the COVID-19 curve is successfully flattening, and we are getting closer and closer to restarting elective surgeries. Already, administrators should be evaluating the backlog of missed operations and re-prioritizing how to proceed when they get the sign-off to re-open. How has COVID-19 changed the landscape of outpatient surgery?

The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) has released a checklist to help ASCs consider what they need to do to begin caring for non-COVID-19 patients. The full list is available for ASCA members, and we’ve outlined some of the most crucial factors below.

As frightening as the news is right now - it will pass. Our healthcare industry will be smarter and stronger from what we are learning today from this crisis. On the other side of this nightmare our hospitals will be more focused on greater healthcare challenges such as intensive care, organ transplants, and acute care management. Surgery centers will rapidly expand and multiply as we realize that elective and routine outpatient surgery does not belong in acute care facilities.
More individuals will choose healthcare as a profession, impressed by the inspiration of our first responders, our nurses, our physicians, our intake personnel. Our healthcare supply chains will not be dependent upon countries outside of the US to maintain adequate par levels of needed supplies. Our strength shall come from within. Thank everyone of you for the job you are doing! It may get darker before the light - but the light will come...