Hospitals Lose Millions of Dollars Because of Pandemic PUBLISHED 8:25 PM ET Jan. 17, 2021 PUBLISHED January 17, 2021 @8:25 PM
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ELKIN, N.C. North Carolina hospital staff has been working overtime since March. As a result of the pandemic, hospitals had to cancel appointments and postpone elective surgeries. It was a strategy to help free up resources for the fight against the coronavirus.
But that same strategy is costing hospitals millions of dollars.
“All the things we traditionally care for, like diabetes, chest pain, and heart failure, didn’t go away so we had those in addition to COVID,” explains Mary Blackburn, the chief clinical officer at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital.
NC changes COVID vaccine eligibility, will offer it to everyone age 65 and older Richard Stradling and Adam Wagner, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Jan. 14 RALEIGH North Carolina will make COVID-19 vaccines available to anyone age 65 and older and all health care workers, regardless of whether they are exposed to coronavirus patients, the state announced Thursday.
The new eligibility rules partially match a change in guidelines announced by the federal government on Tuesday. Alex Azar, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said vaccinating everyone 65 and older would be simpler and make the process go faster.
Under North Carolina s previous phased system for distributing the vaccine, people age 75 and older were eligible to get inoculated starting last week. Hospitals and counties have been scheduling their first clinics for people in that age group, and so far demand has far outstripped available supply in most areas.
As COVID cases grow, NC hospitals are once again delaying non-emergency procedures Richard Stradling, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Jan. 6 RALEIGH Last March, as hospitals in New York and Italy were being overrun with COVID-19 patients, hospitals in North Carolina canceled non-emergency surgeries and other procedures to free up beds, workers and supplies to battle the coronavirus.
Now, as they struggle to keep ahead of the growing number of COVID-19 patients in the state, some North Carolina hospitals are again delaying procedures, though in a more limited and strategic way.
Some hard hit hospitals have halted so-called elective surgeries or stopped scheduling future ones. Others, such as WakeMed, are reviewing their surgical schedules daily to determine which cases can be pushed back a few days or a couple of weeks to keep from filling too many beds at once, said Dr. Chris DeRienzo, the chief medical officer.
NC hospitals receive initial vaccine shipments sanfordherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sanfordherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.