We are hearing now that due to COVID-19 concerns, many (most?) hospital and medical practices are delaying what are known as "elective" procedures.
In the article below one urologist discusses what he thinks can be considered "elective" urological procedures, and thus subject to delay because of the COVID-19 impact.
As to what constitutes an "elective" procedure in a urological setting, he notes that
" ... the AUA has provided some general guidelines, but I have yet to see any case-specific guidance ... (and) there may be some hesitancy from the AUA to issue plain text examples of what an elective case is given the lack of hard data to support their conclusions."He proceeds to list a number of common urological procedures and his own take on how elective they should be considered.
For example
"Prostate biopsy. Tough one. I realize we’re dealing with cancer, but I’m unsure how a delay in diagnosis of a few weeks impacts treatment ... This is clearly a moving target because while a delay of a few weeks may be OK, I’m unsure if that same logic applies to a delay of a few months." And click below to see his thinking on others, such as office cystoscopy, BPH cases, and various surgical procedures.
In view of what he is saying, I wonder if what qualifies as "elective" may thus vary with different uro's. Best to check with one's own to be sure.
Probably a good idea to do so in any case, as it may be possible that insurance coverage for "elective" procedures could start to be affected as well by COVID-19
Interestingly, he closes with the observation " ... I checked the most recent edition of Campbell’s [Campbell-Walsh Urology, 12th Edition], and there is no chapter on how to be a urologist during a global viral pandemic."
https://www.urologytimes.com/article/how-%e2%80%98elective%e2%80%99-surgery-defined-during-covid-19-crisis