CT prepares as elective surgery resumes in New York this week

Connecticut may not be far behind.

“Everybody is anxious to get back to some semblance of what the new normal will be with COVID-19, and starting to do elective surgery metaphorically represents a move in that direction,” said Dr. Jeffrey Nicastro, chairman of surgery for Nuvance Heath, whose seven hospitals include three in New York. “From a finance standpoint, stopping elective surgery has been a burden for all hospitals.”

News that elective surgeries will resume in New York as soon as Wednesday and may return in Connecticut within weeks means not only that the coronavirus crisis is declining as net hospitalizations drop, but also that the capacity, staffing and flexibility at facilities is increasing.

St. Francis Medical Center in Hartford, for example, has already established COVIDfree zones and testing procedures for patients, in preparation for resuming the non-emergency surgeries that were postponed in early March to clear the deck for the coronavirus surge.

“We are taking a thoughtful, phased approach to resuming select services and are following (federal) and state COVID-19 guidance to provide a safe environment for both patients and colleagues," St. Francis Hospital President Dr. John Rodis, said in a statement.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s office agrees.

“We support a gradual reinstatement of these procedures for these institutions large and small because we understand the toll this has taken on hospitals, and patients who have been waiting to get treatment,” said Max Reiss, Lamont’s spokesman.

The advent of elective surgery comes 10 weeks into a public health crisis in Connecticut that could cost the state’s hospitals $1.5 billion this year.

The elective surgeries starting Wednesday in New York at Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel, Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie will be a step in the right direction but a long way from the solution for Nuvance.

“Our intention is to start with a small volume of elective procedures in all three of our New York hospitals,” Nicastro said. “But understand that we are going to phase it in, so the (financial) impact will be modest.”

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342