Health systems: Hospital bed capacity is scarce
Hospital beds are scarce across four Oklahoma City health systems, according to capacity figures they reported Friday, amid a wave of COVID-19 cases across the state.
Integris Health, Mercy, OU Health and SSM Health St. Anthony began reporting their own capacity data in August, which they said was an effort to be transparent about the impact of the surge on their hospitals.
The reports will come every Monday, Wednesday and Friday “until our health care community begins to see relief from this current surge,” the health systems said.
Here are the latest figures reported by each of the four health systems, as of Friday. The reports are a snapshot in time, as hospital capacity can change hour-to-hour as patients are admitted and discharged.
h Integris Health: 233 COVID-19 patients in its hospitals. No beds, including ICU beds, are available. Of COVID-19 patients in its hospitals, 85% are unvaccinated.
h Mercy: 103 inpatients with COVID-19 in Mercy hospitals across Oklahoma, with 54 at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City. No ICU beds are available. At Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City, 95% of COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
h OU Health: Across all three of its hospitals, including Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, there are 61 inpatients with COVID-19. No ICU beds are available. 92% of its hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
h SSM Health St. Anthony: 122 COVID-19 patients in SSM Health St. Anthony hospitals. No ICU beds are available. An average of 90% of its hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
The state Health Department has also resumed releasing daily hospital capacity reports that use data hospitals report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Health Department’s latest report Friday showed 61 ICU beds were available across the state, including 36 in the Oklahoma City area.
The state’s top health official, Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye, said this week he didn’t know why there was such a discrepancy between the Health and Human Services data the state is now reporting, and what individual hospitals are reporting.