LAUSR

As the SARS-CoV2 pandemic surged inMarch 2020, hospitals across the world worked tirelessly to defer all non-essential surgical procedures in an effort increase hospital capacity, conserve personal protective equipment (PPE), and free upNursing and Anesthesia staff and peri-operative space for redeployment and care of SARS-CoV2 patients. This reduction was both out of necessity to care for incoming SARS-CoV2 patients and also in collaboration with state governments that mandated significant reductions in elective procedures [1]. This dramatic reduction of the operating room schedule was unprecedented, and within a matter of four weeks, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) had deferred approximately 6500 surgeries and was operating at 15% of its average pre-COVID surgical volume. This nadir lasted until May 11, 2020, at which point the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) lifted the restrictions on the types of procedures that could be performed, and the hospital was given the green light to ramp up its OR schedule [2]. In the months that followed, MGH developed a method for safe and swift recovery of the OR schedule, which helped meet the clinical needs of many thousands of patients awaiting surgery, and the business needs of a hospital that suspended most all revenue-generating procedures. The methodology we describe dovetails the methodology found in Surgical Case Deferment During a Global Pandemic [3], and has applicability for our current pandemic, as well as during other emergency situations such as blizzards, hurricanes or massive power outages.