Lexington Medical outpatient surgery centers to reopen with COVID-19 precautions
Lexington Medical Center will reopen its outpatient surgery centers on Monday, and will also see more non-coronavirus patients at its facilities, the hospital announced May 1.
The hospital network’s 78 physicians practices and its urgent care clinics have continued seeing some patients — including over telemedicine — and will ramp up appointments for those who postponed “needed procedures and visits.” Lexington Medical Center outpatient surgery centers in Irmo and Lexington will reopen on May 4. All facilities will use added safety measures, given the continuing outbreak of COVID-19 in South Carolina.
The hospital had previously cut back on elective, non-emergency surgeries in order to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic and those patients’ needs. In an interview this week, Lexington Medical Center CEO Tod Augsburger said the hospital will start bringing some of those procedures back online while caring for COVID-19 patients. On Friday, Providence Health also announced that it would resume some non-emergency procedures.
Patients with scheduled appointments and procedures will be screened over the telephone before their visits to ask about possible COVID-19 symptoms or exposure, according to a news release. Patients undergoing procedures with a high risk of virus transmission, such as ear, nose and throat surgery, will be considered for COVID-19 lab testing prior to surgery, the hospital said.
Patients will be asked to use designated entrances to minimize contact with others, and staff members will check the body temperature of all employees, patients and visitors upon arrival. The hospital’s restrictive visitors policy will remain in place at the main hospital in West Columbia, and at physician practices.
Everyone is required to wear a face mask at Lexington Medical Center facilities, or the hospital will give patients a mask to wear. Appointments and procedures will be spaced out and waiting areas will be adjusted to make room for social distancing, the news release said. And COVID-19 patients will be seen in dedicated rooms.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 12:00 PM.