HOSPITALS: ELECTIVE CARE CAN RESUME

Association requests a lift of governor’s ban, but Northam refuses

Virginia hospitals say they’re ready to resume handling the elective care that Gov. Ralph Northam ordered them to stop to ensure there were enough beds and equipment for people with the coronavirus. But Gov. Ralph Northam rebuffed their state association’s request to let his ban on nonemergency care expire Friday. He extended it for another week.

“Significant progress has been made in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and treating those afflicted with the virus,” Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association president Sean T. Connaughton said in a letter to Northam.

He said efforts by the state and hospitals to slow the spread of the virus, secure more masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment and expand testing have helped stem the impact of the coronavirus.

Northam said he is still concerned that hospitals don’t have enough protective equipment.

“We have increased our supply of PPE, but before we allow elective surgeries to resume, we must first be assured that the doctors, nurses, and medical staff who are fighting this virus or conducting emergency surgeries have the necessary supplies,” Northam said in a statement.

Connaughton said there are almost 6,000 open beds in Virginia hospitals along with 2,200 unused ventilators, while there are some 1,300 people hospitalized with the virus.

“While the crisis is far from over and COVID-19 will continue to be the primary focus of our hospitals and health care providers for the foreseeable future, we are mindful of the tens of thousands of Virginians who have deferred care for chronic conditions and other non

urgent medical needs,” Connaughton said.

“As this crisis has evolved, we have gained a better understanding of our capacity to meet the needs of COVID-19 patients. We believe we have the capacity to treat these patients now and as the disease progresses, while at the same time safely providing care for Virginians in need of non-urgent, but medically necessary care unrelated to COVID-19,” he added.

The association estimates that 15,000 inpatient and outpatient medical procedures are being deferred each week in Virginia as a result of Northam’s existing order. It said 17 other states, including the hotspots of New York and California, have already lifted bans on elective care.

Bans on elective care have hit hospitals’ income hard. Beckers Healthcare news site says more than 180 hospitals and hospital systems across the country have furloughed staff. Bon Secours Mercy Health, which operates hospitals in several states including in Hampton Roads, furloughed 700 who aren’t treating COVID-19 patients, blaming financial pressures.

Inova Heath this week laid off 400 of its Northern Virginia employees, most of them not involved with direct care. Earlier this month, Ballad Health, which operates 21 hospitals across Tennessee and southwest Virginia, told 1,300 employees they would be furloughed.

Northam’s order does not apply to situations in which a delay would harm a person’s health or to outpatient visits to clinics.