IU Health working through backlog of procedures as COVID cases decline

WFIU | By Brock E.W. Turner

Published February 22, 2022 at 9:14 PM EST

According to a study in Health Affairs, hospitals in Medicaid expansion states were 84 percent less likely to close in the last 10 years.

Health systems are still struggling to keep up with demand despite declining COVID-19 hospitalizations.

IU Health—the state’s largest health system—said it’s working through a backlog of delayed elective procedures.

Dr. Chris Weaver, the Senior vice president of clinical effectiveness at Indiana University Health, said those decisions are made at the individual hospital level.

"We've rescheduled some of those surgeries out, we look at that closely each and every day across each of our hospitals and make those decisions," Weaver said.

COVID numbers have fallen enough though to dismiss the U.S. Naval medical team, which had been supporting IU Health at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

The FEMA-deployed team had been assisting hospitals amid the omicron surge since the end of last year.

For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page here.