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California’s most recent stay-at-home order zeroes in on a region’s ability to care for their sickest COVID-19 patients. But for rural hospitals that don’t have an intensive care unit, administrators say the worsening surge is presenting new challenges.
“The critical access hospital program was designed such that these hospitals would primarily be available to accept and stabilize patients and then transfer those patients to a higher level of care,” said Peggy Broussard Wheeler, vice president of rural health for the California Hospital Association. “Now that is whittling away because the larger facilities are all tremendously impacted by COVID and other patients.”
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California’s most recent stay-at-home order zeroes in on a region’s ability to care for their sickest COVID-19 patients.
But for rural hospitals that don’t have an intensive care unit, administrators say the worsening surge is presenting new challenges.
“The critical access hospital program was designed such that these hospitals would primarily be available to accept and stabilize patients and then transfer those patients to a higher level of care,” said Peggy Broussard Wheeler, vice president of rural health for the California Hospital Association. “Now that is whittling away because the larger facilities are all tremendously impacted by COVID and other patients.”