Outcomes of symptom screening and universal COVID-19 reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing before endoscopy in a community-based ambulatory surgery center.

Background And Aims: Elective endoscopy resumed in our outpatient ambulatory center after instituting the preprocedure policy of a confirmed negative coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) status performed 72 hours before a scheduled procedure as mandated by the state of Illinois. In addition, all patients were required to contemporaneously complete the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) COVID-19 risk screening questionnaire published April 28, 2020 as outlined in the ASGE guidance document for reopening GI endoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of our study is to report the outcomes of 1000 patients who successfully completed the clinical aspects of the ASGE COVID-19 risk screening questionnaire and whose RT-PCR tests were valid for interpretation.