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Senate Finance Committee leaders today issued a staff report on “concurrent and overlapping surgeries,” which the report describes as a practice involving a surgeon scheduling and conducting operations on two different patients during the same period of time. The report summarizes findings from a committee staff inquiry of 20 teaching hospitals about the practice, noting that all of the hospitals contacted by the committee have modified or are modifying their existing policies or created new hospital-wide policies specific to the practice. The report also reviews guidance on the practice issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and American College of Surgeons and other information gathered from stakeholders, and offers recommendations for hospitals and regulators. The AHA and Association of American Medical Colleges worked with the committee to ensure it had the latest information. In a member communication in May, the AHA and AAMC encouraged all hospitals to review their policies and procedures and make them consistent with the ACS’s recently released  on the responsibility of the primary surgeon during surgery. “The AHA and AAMC welcome the Senate Finance Committee’s white paper on Concurrent and Overlapping Surgeries and recognize the work of the Committee on this important issue,” said AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels and AAMC Executive Vice President Atul Grover. “The goal of hospitals and physicians is to ensure their patients have the information they need to make informed decisions and to provide safe, high-quality and efficient patient care that reflects patients’ preferences. New technologies, increased demand for specialty surgery, emerging surgical techniques and the growth and aging of the population have U.S. hospitals striving for improved and more efficient ways to meet their patients’ needs while, at the same time, adhering to evidence-based guidelines for care. The AHA and AAMC continue to encourage hospitals to review the American College of Surgeons’ updated guidance on the intraoperative responsibility of the primary surgeon to determine whether any changes to hospital policies, procedures and practices are warranted to make them consistent with the principles and, if so, implement such changes. In addition, we have provided educational opportunities for hospitals to learn from each other. Providing safe, quality care for all patients is paramount, and we are committed to working together to ensure that this care is delivered.”