Category: patient flow

Hospitals are urging the public to not use emergency departments for routine COVID-19 tests amid rising COVID-19 hospitalizations and crowded facilities. 

WVU Medicine Uniontown (Pa.) Hospital, in conjunction with WVU Medicine Children’s, said it will restart obstetrics services later this year after ending the services two years ago. 

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Jan. 10 issued a limited 30-day emergency order to help hospitals facing an influx of patients during the latest COVID-19 surge.

University Hospitals Lake Health is temporarily closing its freestanding emergency department at UH Madison (Ohio) Health Center.

Connecticut is asking nursing homes to accept patients who are positive for COVID-19 and discharged from an acute care hospital, according to new guidance from the state department of public health. 

Washington, D.C., is seeing the highest average rate of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 people in the nation, according to federal data cited by The New York Times.

Citing staff shortages, Chester, Pa.-based Crozer Health is temporarily suspending emergency department, pathology, lab and medical imaging services at Springfield (Pa.) Hospital, starting Jan. 14.

Forty hospitals in New York state must stop certain elective procedures for at least two weeks after having met the state’s threshold for “high risk regions” or low capacity facilities, according to a news release from the state health department.  

The Oregon Health Authority released new interim guidelines Jan. 6 for hospitals across the state to follow if a COVID-19 surge forces them to enact crisis standards of care. 

Hospitals and health systems across the U.S. are struggling with staffing challenges as workers call in sick and COVID-19 infections surge, and several facilities have had to temporarily limit capacity.