Hospitals no longer need an emergency order from the governor to reorganize beds.
LaWanna Halstead is a vice president at the Oklahoma Hospital Association. She said today on a Healthier Oklahoma press conference that because an emergency exists at the federal level with the Department of Health and Human Services, hospitals can do what they need to do to function in the face of possible COVID surges.
“Because the federal emergency declaration is still in place - I said the federal emergency declaration - the health department did clarify just yesterday that hospitals can expand beyond their license beds but they do want to hear from hospitals before they do that,” said Halstead.
The ability for hospitals to reorganize has been controversial. Governor Kevin Stitt said he doesn't plan to issue an emergency order even as COVID hospitalizations increased. Last week, in one week, they rose 39%.
Halstead said she met with the state commissioner of health, Dr. Lance Frye, to talk about solutions.
“He has looked at his level of authority and under the licensing authority he has, he can allow hospitals to increase beds, re-designate beds, create cohorts within their bed capacity.”
Though Cherokee Nation Health Services announced late today it's suspending elective surgeries, and though the situation is worse in Tulsa, Halstead said she hasn’t heard broadly of hospitals being so overwhelmed that they are suspending elective procedures. In fact, she said the numbers are a long way from that point.
Data today from the federal Department of Health and Human Services - now the only entity Oklahoma hospitals are required to report COVID data to - says that of the 1,002 staffed ICU beds in the state, 278 are occupied by COVID patients. That’s about 28% of beds statewide. Overall, about 84% of ICU hospital beds in the state are in use.
Halstead said these numbers change quickly.
“The total number of beds available really does change on an hour-by-hour basis.”
Finally, staffing shortages remain a big concern. According to the CDC, 24% of Oklahoma hospitals are lacking help. That's double the nationwide average of 12%. Halstead said the Oklahoma workforce is burnt out, and there isn't a pipeline of students in Oklahoma.
"We've had a nursing shortage for 10, 15 years in this state," said Halstead. "We feel like kind of the diagnosis of that is we have a limited capacity to put nurses through universities, schools. Our president has met with our regents about that and hopefully we can see that change over time."
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Under Federal Emergency, Hospitals Can Reorder To Cope With COVID Surges - Public Radio Tulsa
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