| Operating rooms around the U.S. are quiet right now, but one of the world's biggest medical-device makers says soon they will be hives of activity. Few institutions have been as hard-hit by the novel coronavirus as hospitals. They cancelled elective surgeries and braced for a tsunami of infections, with surgical suites and procedure rooms converted to handle the expected influx of patients critically ill with Covid-19. Now, that pause may be about to end, and give way to a big-time surge in surgeries. "We're getting texts, calls, from hospitals – big health system CEOs and purchasing people, basically indicating a faster-than anticipated recovery in many parts of the United States," Medtronic Chief Executive Officer Geoff Martha said on the company's earnings conference call Thursday. "Basically saying, are you guys ready? Buckle up." It makes sense that a medical-device maker would be among the first to see signs that operating rooms are getting ready to get back to business. Companies like Medtronic provide everything from catheters and staples to pacemakers and spinal-cord stimulators that control pain.  Photographer: Dana Neely/Stone Sub Photographer: Dana Neely/Stone Sub Medical centers may start performing operations seven days a week in a furious effort to catch up on a backlog of patients who deferred procedures -- and to resume providing services that generate some of the facilities' highest profit margins. There are other reasons why surgeries may be one of the fastest areas of medical care to rebound, Martha said. One is even though some procedures are labeled elective, most of them really aren't. They are critical for the health of the patient and can be delayed only so long. For many, it's only a matter of time before they really have to take action. Hospitals want to care for those patients and provide them the relief that surgery often offers. But the institutions themselves also need financial relief. The surgery shutdown could lead to losses of more than $50 billion a month for health-care systems, according to the American Hospital Association. Compounding the pain, profit margins for operations are significantly higher than those for treating critically ill patients like those with Covid-19. The hospitals are looking to their equipment providers like Medtronic as partners for the first time, making sure they are ready to hit the ground running when the bell sounds to fully resume operations. "They have a bolus of patients they need to work through," he said. "They are planning for six and seven day work weeks. I don't know how long it will last."—Michelle Fay Cortez | 
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