BHS to follow state elective surgery rules
Butler Health System officials said Tuesday they plan to continue self-regulating, but will adhere to the latest state orders on elective procedure reductions, if necessary.
“If the state tells us to do something, we'll follow that, but I think most decisions will be internal,” said Dr. John Love, BHS director of infectious disease.
The Elective Procedures Order issued by state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine Monday will force some hospitals to reduce elective procedure workloads by 50 percent if their region meets specific criteria.
Butler Memorial Hospital belongs in the southwestern region, and Clarion Hospital belongs in the northern region.
When a region reaches lows in two of three categories, including staff shortages, COVID-19 surge and bed availability, then all of the hospitals in that region will receive notice from the state Department of Health to reduce elective procedures.
Love said BMH could be at the mercy of larger hospitals in the region, such as those in Pittsburgh.
“Our data is a very small fraction of the overall data used to make the decision,” he said. “When you look at the map, it's just a very large area with some very different hospitals and areas than Butler.”
Love said they have already proven they can make adjustments at the local level. In the spring, BHS formed a reopening committee to deal with shutting down elective procedures at that time. The committee has since remained in place for guiding decisions about COVID-19 measures.A surgical subcommittee agreed to shut down elective procedures last week because of the number of COVID-19 cases in the community, rising numbers of hospitalizations and an uncertainty of bed availability.“It went into effect (Nov. 16). We decided for that week to postpone any non-emergent surgery that would have required a hospital admission,” Love said.Love said BHS has done weekly evaluations of its capacity. He said in an evaluation this week, which was affected by the previous decision, they found extra bed availability, so they decided to resume elective procedures.“We decided to go to a week-by-week look at this,” he said. “We will regulate ourselves. We can fine-tune ourselves a lot more at the immediate level.”Love said people usually underestimate the importance of elective procedures.In the past, BHS CEO Ken DeFurio said elective procedures are crucial to the financial health of the organization, even citing them as part of the reason for the system's approximate $15 million in losses reported in June.Love said for patients, these procedures may not be life-saving, but they may alleviate pain or improve their quality of life.“When we talk about elective surgery, people have this idea that it's something cosmetic,” Love said. “Meanwhile, these aren't. These are people who need new hips, new knees or have something that needs to be biopsied. These are things that need to be done in a timely fashion.”Love said BHS wants to continue making decisions at the local level and hopes the region doesn't bring trouble to its doorstep.“I think there's good leadership in the hospital as well as locally and in the county,” he said. “I think the people are trying to do good honest work in the community, and that's what we're all here to do.”
