LOGO WITH TEXT - Planeticnet | Education
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Categories
  • Malaysia
Menu
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Categories
  • Malaysia
Search
Home California

‘Half of California Hospitals Are in the Red’: Pandemic Troubles Pile Up for ERs [Latest 2022]

Planetic Net by Planetic Net
February 14, 2023
in California, Emergency medicine, Money, San Francisco, Uncategorized, X-ray
481
0
RS KQED SanFrancisco UCSF qut x - Planeticnet | Education

RS KQED SanFrancisco UCSF qut x

422
SHARES
1.1k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsappShare on TelegramShare on EmailShare on Wechat

Coyle argued in a recent blog post that what “transpired in Madera County will be replicated in other parts of California” unless the hospitals receive financial assistance from the state. The hospital association has asked the state for $1.5 billion in immediate relief.

“While the floodwaters of the COVID pandemic may have receded,” Coyle told KQED, “the damage that was done remains widespread. We have more than half of all California hospitals are operating in the red, losing money on every patient that they care for (PDF).”

Last year hospital margins in the Western United States were down 69% compared to 2019 (PDF). Coyle said that hospital profits being low or negative can lead to fewer nurses, X-ray technicians and behavioral health specialists, and reduced supplies like blood.

“These disruptions led to unexpected, unbudgeted cash shortfalls,” said Glenn Melnick, USC professor and health economist. “I think there will be more [hospitals] that just don’t have enough cash or financial reserves to weather the downturn.”

Even today, nearly three years after the pandemic started, many facilities are still depending on costly temporary or contract labor.

“The nurses all quit,” said Dr. Guy Shochat, who works in the ER at UCSF’s Parnassus campus in San Francisco. “We lost 20 nurses in the first year and a half of the pandemic. And they were senior nurses, so this was well over 200 years of institutional memory just disappearing. And it’s hurt us. Everyone’s just well and truly burnt out. And patient care suffers when staff are overwhelmed.”

This is especially true for emergency departments.

“There is no bed with which to see the patient,” said Dr. Nicole Braxley, an emergency medicine physician who worked in Sacramento during the pandemic and recently transferred to the East Coast. “And all I want to do is see the patient.”

She says patients all across the state and the country are waiting six, eight and sometimes 24 hours for care in the emergency department.

Lengthy wait times recently were driven partly by this winter’s tripledemic, when respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, influenza and a wave of COVID-19 slammed the state, all at once. The problem gets exacerbated by the fact that many Californians do not have a primary care doctor. Not a new issue, this forces people to use the ER for all their medical needs. And emergency departments often cannot transfer patients to severely short-staffed rehabilitation hospitals or long-term care facilities.

According to a 2021 UCSF report, the percentage of registered nurses planning to retire by 2023 more than doubled in 2020 (PDF). And that was before the pandemic fueled a severe rise in burnout. The forecast for 2022 remained bleak, with a follow-up report (PDF) in 2022 stressing the “need to rapidly develop and implement strategies to mitigate the potential harm of shortages.”

Increasingly, hospitals are training doctors to treat people in the lobby of the ER.

“We call it vertical care,” Braxley said. “We say if a patient can stay vertical and they don’t need to be horizontal on a bed, they don’t get a bed. You sit in a chair.”

Patients can still receive blood tests, electrocardiograms and even an IV in the waiting room. Braxley says doctors use safety pins or coat hooks to hang IV bags. She admits lobby medicine is miserable for both patients and doctors, but it’s often the only option.

“Patients sit for days, unbathed, not ambulated, using urinals standing in corners in view of everyone. A patient I admitted three days ago stopped me, asking, ‘Why?’ Hands reach out from gurneys as I pass asking for food, water, help to the bathroom, a blanket, or someone to simply talk to and show they care,” wrote an ER doctor in a report titled A Nation in Crisis. The American College of Emergency Physicians published a collection of 100 harrowing stories from practitioners all across the country on the front lines.

Then, inflation gets added to the mix. Labor costs have increased by 19%. Pharmaceutical prices are up 40%. And finally, there’s Medi-Cal reimbursements: A third of Californians are enrolled in the state’s lower-income health plan.

“But the state pays only $0.74 for every dollar of care that’s provided to a Medi-Cal enrollee,” said Coyle.

Historically, private insurance payers typically make up Medi-Cal losses, but Coyle says that scale is beginning to tip in the wrong direction.

Many towns are in danger of losing critical medical services, like Kaweah Health in Tulare County, Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister, and El Centro Regional Medical Center in Imperial County.

“When will this implode? It’s not a matter of if, but when will this implode?” Braxley said.

Previous Post

Free Resources for myView Literacy – 1st Grade [Latest 2022]

Next Post

Forbes 30 Under 30 Member On All Things EdTech And Intuitive Innovation [Latest 2022]

Related Posts

AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education
Boston

Judge dismisses parents’ lawsuit over popular reading curricula [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 31, 2025
What are Learning Styles - Planeticnet | Education
Time

nytimes.com [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 30, 2025
AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education
Charter school

Dystopian Teacher Tales: The La Jollan Educational Missionary Society [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 30, 2025
Treasure Island San Francisco x - Planeticnet | Education
Chough

SF Planned to Improve Treasure Island’s Transit. Trump Took Back the Funds [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 30, 2025
AI SONGS cjlw facebookJumbo - Planeticnet | Education
Time

nytimes.com [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 29, 2025
AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education
Daily Dispatch

The Daily Digest: May 29, 2025 [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 29, 2025
blooms taxonomy verbs - Planeticnet | Education
Backward design

100+ Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs For Critical Thinking [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 29, 2025
AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education
Child development

Instructional Coaching: Job-Embedded professional learning and compensation [Latest 2022]

by Planetic Net
May 29, 2025
Next Post

Forbes 30 Under 30 Member On All Things EdTech And Intuitive Innovation [Latest 2022]

Getting Your Wires Crossed? 9 Signs That Your Organization Isn't Communicating Effectively With Its Employees [Latest 2022]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education

Judge dismisses parents’ lawsuit over popular reading curricula [Latest 2022]

May 31, 2025
What are Learning Styles - Planeticnet | Education

nytimes.com [Latest 2022]

May 30, 2025
AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education

Dystopian Teacher Tales: The La Jollan Educational Missionary Society [Latest 2022]

May 30, 2025
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
gettyimages custom e a d a b e d d a a x - Planeticnet | Education

Is Your House at Risk of a Wildfire? This Online Tool Could Tell You

0
indicators of authentic mobile learningc - Planeticnet | Education

9 Indicators Of Authentic Mobile Learning

0
Books to Read to Comfort After a Tragedy - Planeticnet | Education

Books to Read With Kids After a Tragedy

0
GettyImages - Planeticnet | Education

Generating Leads With An Authoring Tool Listing In The eLearning Industry Directory

0
AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education

Judge dismisses parents’ lawsuit over popular reading curricula [Latest 2022]

May 31, 2025
What are Learning Styles - Planeticnet | Education

nytimes.com [Latest 2022]

May 30, 2025
AdobeStock scaled - Planeticnet | Education

Dystopian Teacher Tales: The La Jollan Educational Missionary Society [Latest 2022]

May 30, 2025
Treasure Island San Francisco x - Planeticnet | Education

SF Planned to Improve Treasure Island’s Transit. Trump Took Back the Funds [Latest 2022]

May 30, 2025
LOGO WITH TEXT - Planeticnet | Education
Planetic.net | Education is a free website that has been designed to help students and a one stop hub for students seeking for information on scholarship, education, school and university tips and updates on different issues relating to education.
About Us

Useful links

  • Technology
  • Tool
  • Computer
  • Science
  • Robotics
  • Malaysia
  • Leadership

Quick Link

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Other

  • Main site
  • Technology
  • Education
  • Health & Fitness
  • Travel
  • App

© 2022 Planetic.net. All rights reserved.

Newsletter - Planeticnet | Education

WANT MORE?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE LATEST UPDATES AND NEWS, PLUS SOME EXCLUSIVE TIPS!