Sarasota Memorial Hospital will resume elective surgeries and non-emergency procedures Monday, May 4, following the announcement from Gov. Ron DeSantis that he will lift surgery restrictions and begin to reopen the state. All of SMH’s operating rooms, robotic surgery suites, cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs, endoscopy/brochoscopy procedural suites and its Cape Outpatient Surgery Center will resume normal operations on Monday. 

A detailed pre-operative evaluation has been developed and other protocols are in place to ensure the safety of patients, staff and medical providers. The hospital has already been testing high-risk and medically indicated patients for COVID-19 up to 72 hours before non-elective surgeries, and is expanding pre-admission testing this week to safely resume elective procedures beginning Monday. SMH also has the capability of performing rapid on-site COVID-19 testing so it can obtain results in less than an hour in high risk or time-sensitive situations.  Patients who had a procedure postponed or who have other questions should contact their physician for information.