Pittsburgh-based UPMC is ramping up elective procedures with the goal to reach pre-COVID-19 volumes within six weeks, despite an order from Gov. Tom Wolf to stop elective procedures, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
What you should know:
1. UPMC will be the first health system in the region to restore its elective surgical procedure program.
2. Hospital leaders wrote a letter to UPMC surgeons April 15, urging them to use keywords like "urgent," "cancer," "unstable" and "relief from suffering" to justify the procedures in reports.
3. UPMC has on several occasions said it can perform elective procedures safely during the pandemic. The hospital was hesitant to cancel elective procedures and was one of the last in the region to do so.
4. Competing Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network will keep its elective surgical procedure program shut down for the foreseeable future.