The powerful U.S. Senate Finance Committee has called for an outright ban on concurrent surgeries and stricter guidelines for overlapping surgeries.
In the latest development spurred by a 2015 Boston Globe exposé, the committee issued a report this week urging hospitals to prohibit "concurrent or simultaneous surgeries" and strictly enforce the ban. It defines such surgeries as those in which critical components for which the same primary attending surgeon is responsible occur at the same time.
"Overlapping" surgeries it defines as those in which 2 procedures occur at the same time, but in which the critical components of the first operation are complete before the primary attending surgeon moves on to a second operation.
The distinction between concurrent and overlapping is key. As we recently reported, a new study from the Mayo Clinic says that what it calls "overlapping" surgeries are not only safe, but also good for patients because they allow more timely access to expert care. The study was based on procedures in which "one surgeon is responsible for 2 procedures occurring at the same time, but (for which) critical portions are not coincident."
Read more at Outpatient Surgery Magazine >>