Dignity Health Sacramento Resumes Select Procedures and Services
Sacramento – Dignity Health Sacramento today announced that it will resume select scheduled procedures and services at its six area hospitals on May 11, following guidance from Governor Gavin Newson as well as from national health and clinical associations. All services will not be provided right away, rather, this will be a phased approach in which the most urgent procedures will be prioritized using a process created by our clinical teams.
Like most hospitals, Dignity Health Sacramento stopped performing these procedures in March to prepare for a surge of COVID-19 patients. In taking the step to resume some procedures, Dignity Health is using criteria based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Surgeon General, American Hospital Association, and the leading national associations of nurses, surgeons, and anesthesiologists. These procedures, such as hernia repair, total joint replacement and gallbladder removal are critically important to help alleviate pain, treat a chronic condition, or prevent a condition from worsening.
“I applaud Governor Newsom for his leadership and guidance in helping California flatten the curve,” said Laurie Harting, Greater Sacramento Division President & CEO for Dignity Health. “Due in large part to social distancing measures, our hospitals did not experience the surge of COVID-19 patients as initially anticipated, which allowed us to quickly pivot to a recovery phase and get back to offering procedures for our patients. We look forward to doing what our mission calls us to do each day and provide the care that our patients and communities depend on.”
Dignity Health will continue to take significant steps to ensure patient safety. Patients will be required to be tested 48-72 hours prior to their procedure, and existing safety precautions such as limiting visitation and universal masking for staff and patients will remain in place. Several factors were considered in the decision to resume procedures, including the approval from state and local health officials, a sustained reduction in COVID-19 cases, and the procurement of enough personal protective equipment and testing.
As Dignity Health works over the next few months on this phased approach, we do want to reinforce that our hospitals are safe and community members should not delay in receiving medical care.
For more information about scheduling a procedure or rescheduling a previously scheduled procedure, patients should contact their physician. Additional information can also be found at https://www.dignityhealth.org/sacramento.
About Dignity Health
Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, is a multi-state network of 10,000 physicians, more than 60,000 employees, 41 acute care hospitals, and 400-plus care-centers including neighborhood hospitals, urgent care, surgery and imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. In FY 2019, Dignity Health provided more than $1.1 billion in patient financial assistance, unreimbursed costs of Medicaid, community health improvement services, and other community benefits. For more information, please visit our website at www.dignityhealth.org.
Publish date:
Tuesday, May 05, 2020