Florida's emergency operations center is surveying ASCs about their resources and capacity for COVID-19 patients, according to WUSF News.
Five things to know:
1. One Miami-based ASC operator received the brief survey April 5 and was asked to return it by noon the next day.
2. The survey includes questions about centers' supply of anesthesia machines, which can be repurposed to provide respiratory support for COVID-19 patients.
3. The survey also asks about whether ASCs have integrated with hospital systems to provide COVID-19 support, and requests the contact information for biomedical technicians.
4. Many of the state's hundreds of ASCs have closed or cut back their hours because Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis temporarily barred elective surgeries during the pandemic.
5. If surgery centers donate their anesthesia machines, there are questions as to when and how they'd get the expensive equipment back.