Webinar Series: Confronting COVID-19

Part 3 - Elective and Urgent Surgeries amid COVID-19

Date: April 14, 2020

Confronting COVID-19: Finding Hospital Capacity and Improving Patient Flow
A Webinar Series Hosted by PCORI for Hospitals and Health Systems

Many hospitals have suspended elective and urgent surgeries amid the pandemic, yet the need for urgent surgeries, including transplants and cancer surgeries, remains. How many and what types of these surgeries can be conducted will depend both on the level of urgency and on hospitals’ non-COVID capacity.

In Part 3 of this webinar series, speakers discussed how hospitals can balance these factors at this critical moment. Panel speakers and discussants also addressed audience questions submitted during the webinar.

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Speakers

  • Bruce L Gewertz, Surgeon-in-Chief, Chair, Department of Surgery, and Vice Dean, Academic Affairs, Cedars-Sinai Health System
  • Shaf Keshavjee, Surgeon in Chief, Sprott Surgery, University Health Network; Professor of Thoracic Surgery, University of Toronto
  • Tom Waddell, Chair, Division of Thoracic Surgery, University of Toronto

Moderator

  • Susan Dentzer, Senior Policy Fellow, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy

Discussants

  • David B Hoyt, Executive Director, American College of Surgeons
  • Eugene Litvak, President and Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Healthcare Optimization