Arizona COVID-19 system suspends out-of-state transfers

In another sign that COVID-19 cases are approaching critical levels in Arizona, the state’s surge line is pausing outof-state patient transfers.

Arizona’s COVID-19 surge line, which began operating in April, aims to evenly distribute patients to hospitals across the state so that no single facility is overwhelmed and to ensure that equipment such as ventilators and intensive care beds are available.

The surge line suspended out-ofstate patient transfer requests Monday after reaching 90% hospital occupancy on the weekend, state health officials confirmed Tuesday.

Hospitals in other states may still contact Arizona hospitals directly if they need assistance with patient care, Arizona Department of Health Services spokeswoman Holly Poynter wrote in an email. But they can no longer ask for help through Arizona’s surge system.

The pause of patient transfers through the surge line does not mean hospitals in Arizona will refuse a sick patient from another state if there’s room for them, said Dr. Marjorie Bessel, chief clinical officer for Banner Health, the state’s largest health system.

If they are contacted directly by an out-of-state hospital about a patient who needs care, Arizona hospitals are obligated under federal law to take care of them if they have the capacity, Bessel explained.

“Although the surge line isn’t doing it, we will still likely get requests and we will be federally obligated if we can meet that request, to take those patients across state lines,” she said.

But with patient numbers rising, she said the health care delivery system in Arizona is expected to become increasingly stressed, even more stressed than it was during the state’s first major wave of infection, which peaked in July.

“It’s going to be very difficult to take care of our own state,” she said. “The patients who have COVID have very long lengths of stay. When we take someone today from another state, they may have a two plus week length of stay. They are potentially still going to be here as we’re going into the surge.”

Some Arizona hospitals have been caring for patients from nearby states including New Mexico, where COVID-19 cases are spiking. Arizona is experiencing a surge of COVID-19 patients, too, but the rates here remain lower than many neighboring states, including New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Utah.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker says the seven-day rate of new cases was 127.5 per 100,000 people in New Mexico as of Tuesday, which is the third-highest rate in the country behind North Dakota and Wyoming.

Arizona’s rate, by comparison, is 50.6 per 100,000 people — the 28th highest rate in the country as of Tuesday, according to the CDC.

The surge line’s suspension of outof-state patient transfers is one of several indications that Arizona is headed into a difficult period with COVID-19. Hospitalizations are rising, the percent of positive cases is going up, and the number of new cases is going up, too.

Identified COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose by 4,544 on Tuesday to 306,868, and 51 new known deaths were reported, taking the total number of known deaths to 6,515, according to the daily report from the state health department.

“The state of Arizona is headed for a very significant surge of total patients,” Bessel said.

“It’s going to be very stressful for everybody. ... I don’t think we are over the worst of it. The worst is still ahead of us and Arizona happens to be a little bit behind other states that are surging.”