U.S. Agency Asks for All Elective Surgeries to Be Postponed Due to Coronavirus

As America braces for what seems like an inevitable surge of severe COVID-19 cases, healthcare providers have been doing everything they can to prepare. Still, some hospital groups were continuing to perform elective surgeries.

But on Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) -- an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- officially recommended that all hospitals suspend all non-essential surgeries to help keep resources available for the coming wave of coronavirus patients.

Elective surgeries, which include non-emergency operations such as joint replacements, cataract surgeries, and ligament repairs, are a profitable business for hospital groups. The new CMS guideline would still allow hospitals to perform surgeries for conditions that could become life-threatening, such as early-stage cancer tumor removal or replacing a faulty heart valve.

Source Fool.com