With the burden of postponed elective patients increasing, we see the need for a risk and urgency adapted continuous reassessment of patients during the pandemic. To sustain high standards of medical care and simultaneously ensure social distancing, patients should be followed up remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, if required. The best solution in our opinion is telehealth measures as regular symptom assessment to check for deterioration of the electively managed disease condition. We propose implementation of a simple telemedical two-step algorithm. In STEP 1, which substitutes scheduled appointments, patients should be consulted by trained physicians over the phone to assess the symptoms and the level of suffering, applying standardized scores. Only in case of acute deterioration, consultation in outpatient clinics should be authorized. For STEP 2, patient apps for outcome recording should be implemented to provide continuous symptom control, as they have proven efficacy in oncology where they have already been established [
9]. This steady reassessment allows the necessary triage of elective patients. In doing so, the forthcoming caseload of elective patients could be controlled and mitigated, preventing outpatient centers to be overwhelmed. As major hurdles, reimbursement and regulatory issues are perceived, but governments might be willing to adapt during this pandemic [
10]. Assisted by telemedical symptom assessment, triage for appointments should be based on the probability of deterioration, the current outpatient capacity and local risk for SARS-CoV-2 infections (Fig.
1b). Furthermore, we must strive for the early reopening of outpatient clinics as soon as the curve flattens to avoid later short cuts and deterioration in the medical service. As patients should be already virtually reassessed for potential progression of their diseases during the pandemic, a restart should be performed following the same triaging principles. Probability of deterioration, time aspect in andrology and outpatient capacity should be used to prioritize patients.