Originally published on January 28, 2021 1:49 pm
There are several factors behind the financial struggles rural hospitals face right now, according to Harold Miller, CEO of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. They include increased costs to fight the pandemic, decreased money coming in from patients who are putting off doctor visits, and small hospitals that earn less per patient from private insurers than their urban counterparts,
“Most rural hospitals, even if they’re making profits, are making very small profits and typically do not have significant reserves in place,” Miller says. “And the hospitals that we’ve identified as being at risk, are ones that have been losing money for several years.”
Posted By Thadeus Greenson@ThadeusGreenson on Thu, Jan 28, 2021 at 5:24 PM click to enlarge File Dale Stocky celebrates his 75th birthday by getting the COVID-19 vaccination he d newly become eligible for at a Mad River Community Hospital vaccine clinic Jan. 23 at Pacific Union Elementary School. Mad River Community Hospital is asking people not to come to its scheduled COVID-19 vaccination clinics unless they have received an invitation directly from their primary healthcare provider or been referred to the clinic by Humboldt County Public Health or their employer. While word of the clinics scheduled this week and next has spread rapidly via email chains and social media, hospital spokesperson Jacqueline Martin said they are being held spec
Supply and Demand: COVID-19 Vaccination Frustrations Boil with Too Few Doses and Another Curveball from the State northcoastjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from northcoastjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
click to flip through (2) If mass vaccination is the road that will ultimately lead Humboldt County and the nation out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it s proving a bit bumpy, with a series of blind turns that seemingly just keep coming. There were glimmers of hope in a Jan. 14 press conference one of just a handful held since the county was put under a shelter-in-place order last March when Health Officer Ian Hoffman announced Humboldt had offered a vaccine to all local healthcare workers and would be moving in the coming days to vaccinate residents aged 75 and older. Further, Hoffman said he expected vaccine shipments from the state to potentially double in the coming weeks.
Posted By Thadeus Greenson@ThadeusGreenson on Tue, Dec 22, 2020 at 3:18 PM click to enlarge iStock
The Joint Information Center announced this afternoon that all 975 initial doses in the first batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Humboldt County received last week will have been administered by day s end.
Distribution of the next batch of vaccines, meanwhile, has began as well.
The vaccine is currently being allocated under the very first phase of distribution guidelines outlined by the state, which prioritizes high-risk populations, like frontline healthcare workers in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.
According to a press release, by day s end St. Joseph Hospital will have vaccinated nearly 800 employees, while Mad River Community Hospital will have vaccinated more than 300 and n