The American College of Surgeons Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (Part II) : Advocacy and Public Policy.

Wexner, Steven D; Opelka, Frank; Bailey, Patrick V; Cortés-Guiral, Delia

From the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic of 2020, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has been a leader in disseminating credible information on the clinical and scientific aspects of the disease. As governmental regulations enforced the closure of hospitals and operating rooms to elective surgical cases as part of its "shelter-in-place" public lockdown policies, the ACS brought specialty societies together to create guidelines to protect patients and preserve surgical quality. Federal agencies made available financial aid programs to mitigate the economic impact of the outbreak. The division of advocacy and health policy of the ACS made certain that the interests of surgeons and their patients were served. Steven Wexner, member of the Board of Regents of the ACS interviewed the medical directors of the division, Frank Opelka in quality and health policy, and Patrick Bailey in advocacy, for their stories of how the College responded to the many health and public policy issues that came before Congress and governmental agencies during the pandemic.