Hospitals Were Caught Flat-Footed By Pandemic. Now They’re Making Changes To Better Prepare.
From changing their intake procedures to utilizing robots, hospitals are re-thinking the way they operate after learning some hard lessons in the pandemic. Other hospital news focuses on federal aid distribution and painkiller shortages.
The Wall Street Journal:
Rethinking The Hospital For The Next Pandemic
Hospitals are rethinking how they operate in light of the Covid-19 pandemic—and preparing for a future where such crises may become a grim fact of life. With the potential for resurgences of the coronavirus, and some scientists warning about outbreaks of other infectious diseases, hospitals don’t want to be caught flat-footed again. So, more of them are turning to new protocols and new technology to overhaul standard operating procedure, from the time patients show up at an emergency room through admission, treatment and discharge. (Landro, 6/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Coronavirus Aid Distribution Methods Still Disfavor Hospitals Most In Need
The Trump administration’s distribution of about $175 billion in federal aid to health-care providers has channeled more of that money to profitable hospitals and less to struggling facilities that most need the support amid the coronavirus pandemic, drawing renewed scrutiny and criticism by lawmakers and industry groups. For hospitals, the Department of Health and Human Services allocated the initial $50 billion round of the aid based on their Medicare reimbursements and patient revenue. That puts hospitals heavily reliant on Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income and disabled people, at a disadvantage. (Armour, 6/8)
Reuters:
Special Report: COVID Deepens The Other Opioid Crisis - A Shortage Of Hospital Painkillers
As opioid pills and patches fueled a two-decade epidemic of overdoses in the United States, hospitals faced chronic shortages of the same painkillers in injectable form - narcotics vital to patients on breathing machines. For years, hospitals chased supplies, sometimes resorting to inferior substitutes. The shortfall grew so dire in 2018 that a drugmaker sent letters advising hospitals they could use batches of opioid syringes potentially containing hazardous contaminants - so long as they filtered each dose. (Girion, Levine and Respaut, 6/9)
