The Gila Regional Medical Center Governing Board completed the first step toward another service transition at the hospital’s cancer treatment center with an agreement with New Mexico Oncology Hematology Consultants passed at their regular meeting Thursday. The move has been in the works for some time, but a recently completed value assessment made the contract possible. Mike Lieb, president of the hospital’s management firm, HealthTechS3, explained that this was a …
After two years of unexpected intense demands faced by Gila Regional Medical Center as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that the worst may have finally passed. The county-owned hospital is now seeing very small numbers of patients admitted for the virus. A concerned Silver City resident, Peter Falley, wrote to the Daily Press recently about rumors from “personnel at Gila Regional Medical Center” that insisted “the vast …
Hospital denies formal ask for COVID details Written by Geoffrey Plant on December 2, 2020
Through its legal counsel, Gila Regional Medical Center refused Monday to honor a formal Inspection of Public Records Act request filed by the Daily Press on Nov. 23 without providing a required written status letter within three days of receiving the request.
Separately, however, the hospital updated the newspaper this week regarding conditions at the facility as COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Grant County.
The New Mexico Department of Health replied in a timely manner to a similar IPRA request from the Daily Press, indicating it would respond within a 15-day limit set out in state law.
Hospitals prepare to implement crisis standards Written by Geoffrey Plant on December 9, 2020
New Mexico Human Services Department Secretary Dr. David Scrase announced during a press update Tuesday that the state is preparing to implement its crisis standards of care plan, which establishes resource allocation protocols for hospitals that are increasingly overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
The state’s plan is based on a national framework originally developed in response to the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 and codified nationally in 2018, when it was also adopted by New Mexico. Earlier this year, the state’s medical advisory team undertook an update of that plan in an effort led by the state Department of Health informed by 140 health experts divided into work groups. One of their primary tasks was to grapple with the ethical issues of rationing care if resources became so scarce that not all pe