Tackling imaging, surgery backlog could take ‘six months or more,’ hospital leader predicts
As another state prepares to ramp up nonurgent imaging services, one local hospital leader is throwing cold water on the notion that it will be quick catchup process.
Michigan is set to resume nonessential medical procedures on Friday, May 29, following an order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week. In just a few short months, Beaumont Health system, for one, has delayed about 9,500 imaging procedures, including x-rays, MRIs and CT scans.
Jeffrey S. Fischgrund, MD, chief of orthopedic surgery for the eight-hospital system, believes it’s going to be a long time before it works through its backlog of deferred care. Beaumont altogether operates 23 imaging centers delivering almost 1 million tests annually, according to its website.
"It's going to be many months," he said, according to the Detroit Free Press. "I wish I could say it's three months. Realistically, I think it's going to be six months or more.”
In addition, the Royal Oak, Michigan-based provider has also delayed about 8,500 surgical procedures and upward of 400 cardiac catheterizations. Beaumont is currently operating at less than 50% of its normal volumes, Fischgrund noted, with the system shuttering ambulatory surgery centers back in mid-March.
Further complicating Michigan’s ramp up is the threat of another COVID-19 surge in the coming months. For at least the next year, all hospitals will be treating at least some patients with the virus, and that should be factored into reopening plans, leaders warned.
“We're going to need to reserve some space for them in case we have another resurgence,” said Michael Mulholland, MD, executive director of the University of Michigan Medical Group. "We're going to need to be really careful about how quickly we open back up."
Read more from the Detroit Free Press Below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.