Ballad Health elective surgical operations to resume

Ballad Health today announced that elective surgical operations across the health system will resume as normal following last week’s announced recall of surgical supplies by Cardinal Health.

Last week, the FDA instructed healthcare providers nationwide to not use Cardinal Health’s surgical gowns or prepackaged surgical supplies because of potential sterility issues.

Cardinal Health is one of the nation’s leading providers of surgical supplies to hospitals.

Out of an abundance of caution and to preserve its limited supply of known-sterile surgical supplies, Ballad Health on Friday announced that it was suspending all elective, non-emergency surgical procedures scheduled for Monday, Jan. 20, and Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Because of steps taken, which were announced last Friday, Ballad Health has secured the supplies necessary to ensure emergency and urgent supplies are available for the projected need in its service area.

The elective, non-emergency surgeries that were postponed are now being rescheduled.

It is not yet known if there will be additional supply disruption in the coming days or weeks, and Ballad Health will act responsibly based on those conditions.

“The resumption of full services is happening due to the hard work of our clinical and supply chain teams,” said Alan Levine, chairman and CEO of Ballad Health. “We are continuing to monitor the situation nationally, and we will continue our ongoing dialogue with Cardinal Health and follow the guidance of the FDA.”

To read the FDA’s statement on the Cardinal Health surgical supplies quality issues, visit fda.gov.

Read additional information about the nationwide surgical supply interruption here.