Some Hospitals In New York Are Pushed To Financial Brink By Surge Of Coronavirus Patients

The Wall Street Journal: New York’s Hospital Systems Each Losing Up To $450 Million A Month Battling Coronavirus
New York City’s academic hospital systems are losing some $350 million to $450 million a month each as they respond to a surge of patients with the novel coronavirus, while its independent and smaller hospital systems are being pushed to the financial brink and may soon be unable to make payroll, according to a top official. The mounting cost to the city’s regional hospitals is because of surging labor costs, capital and equipment expenses, and dramatic losses in revenue from elective procedures that have been postponed, according to Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group representing some 160 area hospitals and health systems. (West, 4/12)

Modern Healthcare: Liquidity Crunch Hitting Health Systems Because Of COVID-19
As COVID-19 tests health systems' financial limits and depletes their investment portfolios, many are searching for short-term liquidity solutions. The strategy looks different depending on the system. For Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, it has meant drawing $885 million from four of its credit facilities. Advocate Aurora Health is issuing $700 million in taxable bonds, although the system said that was part of a pre-pandemic plan. UPMC took out a $300 million taxable bank loan. (Bannow, 4/10)

Kaiser Health News: Furor Erupts: Billions Going To Hospitals Based On Medicare Billings, Not COVID-19
Probably few hospital systems need the emergency federal grants announced this week to handle the coronavirus crisis as badly as Florida’s Jackson Health does. Miami, its base of operations, is the worst COVID-19 hot spot in one of the most severely hit states. Even in normal years, the system sometimes barely makes money. At least two of its staff members have died of the virus. (Hancock, Galewitz and Lucas, 4/10)

ProPublica: Lessons Learned From Running ICUs In Disaster Zones
As New York City strains under COVID-19 cases and health care workers scramble for every bit of equipment they can get, hospitals are starting to look less like part of a wealthy country’s medical system and more like the makeshift clinics in disaster zones or the developing world. In those places, experts say, doctors need to think about care differently: managing resources to best serve all the patients who will need help over the duration of a crisis, even if it means not being able to save every person to walk through the door. Dr. Sean Runnels is an associate professor at University of Utah Health and a working anesthesiologist who manages the supply room for his department. (DePillis, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Backup Coronavirus Hospital In Memphis Worries Residents
Faced with the threat of overburdened hospitals, states across the country are converting convention centers, sports facilities and performance spaces into backup treatment sites for coronavirus patients. Tennessee is no exception. What some Memphis residents don’t get is why in their city, a shopping center in the middle of a predominantly black, low-income residential neighborhood has been targeted. (Sainz, 4/13)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia To Convert Atlanta Convention Center To Temporary Hospital
The state will convert a part of the Georgia World Congress Center into a 200-bed hospital to handle an influx of coronavirus patients, Gov. Brian Kemp said Sunday. The governor said the Georgia National Guard and state health and emergency officials will work with PAE, a private contractor, to transform the downtown Atlanta facility into an emergency hospital. (Bluestein and Trubey, 4/13)

Modern Healthcare: Army Corps Scales Back Size Of COVID-19 Field Hospital In Suburban Detroit
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is scaling back the size of a field hospital being constructed inside the Suburban Collection Showplace convention center in Novi, Mich., intended to relieve suburban Detroit hospitals overwhelmed by the coronavirus outbreak. An Army Corps official said Saturday that they are constructing 250-bed medical care facility inside the convention hall instead of the original 1,100-bed plan announced earlier in the week. (Livengood, 4/11)

Detroit Free Press: Field Hospital At TCF Ready To Begin Accepting Coronavirus Patients
The front doors of the TCF Regional Health Care Center were barricaded Friday on the first day that coronavirus patients were admitted to the Detroit field hospital.The signs were clear — "No Visitation No Entry" — as a lone Michigan State Police trooper in his vehicle stood guard at the front of the convention center, which was transformed in the last 11 days into a 1,000-bed field hospital, built to help ease the surge of coronavirus patients filling southeast Michigan hospitals. (Gray, 4/10)

Reuters: 'Here Comes The Sun' Gets U.S. Hospitals Through Dark Days Of Pandemic
The most powerful medicine being used to bolster the morale of New York area healthcare workers at the epicenter of the U.S. novel coronavirus crisis may well be music. Daily infusions of upbeat songs from The Beatles’ classic “Here Comes the Sun” to the theme from the hang-tough movie “Rocky” are being pumped through hospital public address systems to boost the spirits of nurses, doctors and support staff. (Goldberg, 4/12)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals, Systems Leverage 3D Printing Capabilities During Pandemic
For many health systems, 3D printing capabilities have served them well—helping to create face masks, test kit swabs and ways to adapt and repair breathing machines. The technology that was just a few years ago called an industry game-changer because it offered options to create cheaper medical devices and supplies is helping providers navigate the dangers of caring for the nation’s pandemic victims. (Castellucci, 4/11)

WBUR: 'We're Absolutely In The Surge': Boston Hospitals Already Seeing Predicted Rise Of Patients 
As of Saturday, 686 Massachusetts residents had died from COVID-19, and over 2,100 had been hospitalized. Yet state leaders talk about a "surge" of patients that's still to come — any day now, in fact.Gov. Charlie Baker has said the state is tracking coronavirus testing and hospital admissions, and it looks like "the surge is going to land about when we thought it was going to land, which is somewhere between the 10th and the 20th." On Friday, he said COVID-19 cases were still "on an upward slope" and the latest data suggest the peak will come closer to the 20th. (Goldberg, 4/10)

Boston Globe: Boston’s Major Hospitals So Far Staying Ahead Of High Demand For ICU Beds
Boston’s major hospitals are largely staying ahead of the surging demand for intensive care beds in the coronavirus pandemic and, so far, leaders are cautiously optimistic they will avoid the overwhelming crush of patients that has hit other cities. Though some doctors predict infections and deaths will continue to climb for about two weeks, two hospital leaders said they believe advanced planning and social distancing efforts are paying off, potentially allowing the health care system to sidestep worst-case projections. (Kowalczyk, 4/10)

Boston Globe: Here’s A Look At Boston Hope, The City’s New Medical Center For Coronavirus Patients At The Boston Convention And Exhibition Center 
To prepare for an expected surge in coronavirus cases this month, Boston leaders are setting up a new medical center for COVID-19 patients at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Seaport. The facility will be called Boston Hope Medical Center. The city of Boston shared a video Saturday of crews setting up the space, which is one of several new medical centers being set up across the state. (Gans, 4/12)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Coronavirus Confirmed At Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Hospital
There have been several cases of coronavirus at Milwaukee County’s public behavioral health hospital, and the children’s unit has been shut down, officials confirmed Saturday. A union leader representing staff at the hospital said employees were not protected quickly enough, though they now have access to masks and other protective equipment. (Linnane, 4/11)