The Oklahoman

Hospital beds scarce in 4 OKC health systems

- Dana Branham

Hospital beds are still scarce across four Oklahoma City health systems, according to capacity figures 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 effort 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 figures 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: 184 COVID-19 patients in its hospitals, down from 203 in the previous report. One COVID-19 ICU bed was 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 change from the previous report. No ICU beds are available. At Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City, 85% of COVID-19 patients are unvaccinat­ed.

h OU Health: Across all three of its hospitals, including Oklahoma Children's Hospital OU Health, there are 96 COVID-19 patients, up from 64 in the previous report. (OU Health is now including patients being held in the emergency department waiting for a bed to open up in its totals.) No ICU beds are available. 89% of its COVID-19 patients are unvaccinat­ed.

SSM Health St. Anthony: 127 CO

VID-19 patients in SSM Health St. Anthony hospitals, down from 142 in the previous report. 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 86 ICU beds were available across the state, including 42 in the Oklahoma City area. Both the southeast and central regions of the state reported having zero ICU beds available.

State health officials on Thursday acknowledg­ed the discrepanc­ies between their reported data on hospital capacity and what individual hospitals were reporting and said the state was working with hospital leaders to address those discrepanc­ies.

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