As policy makers consider how best to manage the fluctuating levels of the coronavirus across society, an increasing number of hospitals are grappling with how to remain prepared for possible surges but keep options open when it comes to other, elective procedures.

As a recent article on how AI is being incorporated into these deliberations put it, “The decision to shut down businesses and gatherings earlier this year may have been a prudent public health decision, but it badly bruised hospitals and providers financially as many recorded steep revenue declines when lucrative elective procedures were halted.”

The article focuses specifically on the efforts of Banner Health, Arizona's largest provider, to keep elective options on the table for patients even as they grapple with possible surges.

According to the article, a review of the health system’s volume data revealed “that when COVID-19 infection was widespread in Arizona and hospitalizations reached a peak in June, the system was able to decrease inpatient elective procedures as it faced increased strain from the virus. But the data also show the frequency of surgical cases in June, while lower than during the month prior, was still higher than March and April when under stay-at-home orders.”

That, of course, translated into a healthier overall revenue flow for what is one one of the largest nonprofits in the nation, with 28 hospitals in six states encompassing more than 5,000 licensed beds.

As Nirval Patel, medical director of perioperative and procedural services at Banner, explained, The decision was to "let our data drive our decisions, not our gut.”

To that end, Banner tasked a team with develop a process for leveraging its data analytics, and what came out of that was “a dashboard that could tell them two important indicators: the complexity of the potential procedure and the resources required. Ultimately, what they developed was a system to help them make informed decisions about whether to proceed with an elective procedure.”

Some observers remain skeptical of the ability of most health systems’ ability to manage both COVID-19 patients and electives, says the article, but it points to a fair amount of optimism on the part of both investors and industry analysts.  

The bottom line, they note, is that as providers learn more about how best to treat this disease and become more adept at also managing the business side, hard shutdowns are less likely.