California Hospitals Delay Surgeries Amid Coronavirus Surge

California hospitals are facing increasingly difficult decisions about which services to postpone amid a crushing load of coronavirus patients. All regular intensive-care beds are full in Southern California and the Central Valley, and hospitals elsewhere are nearing capacity.

Hospital executives were reluctant to speak in detail about which surgeries are getting delayed and how severe conditions were, saying several factors are considered.

Kaiser Permanente has halted “elective, non-urgent surgeries and procedures” until Jan. 4 at 21 hospitals in Northern California and until Jan. 10 at its 15 hospitals in Southern California.

Sutter Health, which operates 24 hospitals in Northern California, is postponing some elective surgeries, said Dr. Rishi Sikka, president of system enterprises. The company has not said which ones.

“It’s important to understand that those elective cases, which we decide to postpone, they are still essential services for our patient and for our community,” Sikka said at a news conference Tuesday with state officials. “Those are choices that we are making very thoughtfully and every single day across our organization.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet to threaten the type of shutdown of elective surgeries that occurred in March and April, and some health care professionals and patient advocates are trying to quell any possibility of a repeat.

“While our state works to get the COVID-19 surge under control in the weeks ahead, we cannot allow patients’ health care needs to go unmet – medical care delay or avoidance could increase morbidity and mortality risk associated with treatable and preventable health conditions,” Michelle George, president of the California Ambulatory Surgery Association, wrote to the governor this month.

There is no reliable data on the impact that the spring hiatus and other delays have had on patient health. A report published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated 41% of adults nationwide avoided medical care by June 30 because of COVID-19 and 12% of adults put off “urgent or emergency care,” most commonly Blacks, Latinos, people with disabilities and unpaid caregivers for adults with underlying conditions.

Read the full story at the Associated Press, here.

— Elliot Spagat, Associated Press