As vaccination mandates go into effect, CEOs follow through on their promises

Health systems across the country began laying off staff for failing to meet COVID-19 vaccination mandates. But compliance overall is high, and executives remain convinced the mandates are in the best interests of their staffs and communities.

At North Carolina-based Novant Health, more than 175 workers were fired at the end of September after they didn’t get vaccinated. The health system suspended 375 employees the week before, giving them five days to comply with the mandate. Novant employs 35,000 people and saw a more than 99% compliance rate.

In New York, NYC Health + Hospitals brought in 500 nurses to fill in for unvaccinated staff put on leave. The state’s vaccine mandate went into effect on Sept. 28. But overall, city hospitals mostly didn’t need to downsize services or bring in National Guard healthcare workers to alleviate staff shortages. As of Sept. 29, 2% of New York hospital staff have not received their first COVID-19 shot, but plan to do so.

Even early mandate adopters aren’t seeing a mass exodus. Houston Methodist’s vaccination requirement went into effect in June and only 150 employees, or 0.06% of its staff, resigned.

“We have a sacred obligation to care for patients and keep them safe. And frankly, we have an ethical responsibility as an employer to keep our employees safe,” Houston Methodist President and CEO Dr. Marc Boom told Modern Healthcare’s Jeffrey Young. “It was absolutely, unequivocally the right thing to do. I’m very proud of our almost 26,000 men and women for everything they’ve done for this pandemic, for stepping forward and doing the right thing.”

Ultimately, hospital executives realize they’re facing other staffing pressures, particularly burnout after a grueling 19-plus months working through a global pandemic and understaffing in general. The American Nurses Association wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in September asking the Biden administration to declare a national nurse staffing crisis and take steps to curb the worker shortages, such as addressing payment equity for nursing services and considering nurses in reimbursement models.

“We have a sacred obligation to care for patients and keep them safe.” Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist