Hospitals Story Archives - Page 3 of 5 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

New Omicron Variant Drives COVID-19 Spike

West Virginia is seeing the impact of the latest COVID-19 variant, and all metrics point to another surge.

Dr. Clay Marsh began his statements during Tuesday’s COVID-19 briefing by saying the state was likely seeing the impact of the BA.5 variant.

“We know that this variant is very highly contagious and has a couple of properties that make it more difficult than past variants that we face,” Marsh said. “One is it binds to our body’s cells much more avidly and binds like the delta variant did. And it also has a very, very substantial ability to evade our immune systems.”

West Virginia recorded an all-time high daily positivity rate Tuesday at more than 38 percent.

Marsh was adamant that despite BA.5’s seeming ability to evade immunities, vaccination continues to be the best protection against severe illness and death from COVID-19.

“That’s the reason why we are so consistently asking people to stay up to date with your vaccine,” he said. “Use the vaccine calculator and do that because we know being fully up to date for your vaccine reduces your risk of dying by 42 times versus people that have not been vaccinated at all.”

There were 312 COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state Tuesday, nearly 100 more than just one week ago.

Hospitalizations have become a primary metric in tracking COVID spread since community testing ended last month.

Retired Maj Gen. Jim Hoyer warned the state’s total hospital COVID-19 capacity has been reduced from 800 beds to 500 due to staffing shortages. The state is increasing its preparedness.

“We’re increasing the frequency of our coordination calls with our hospitals, long term care organizations as well as our community health clinics,” Hoyer said. “Again, just so we’re prepared for contingencies that might occur.”

Hoyer also said the state will undertake an updated sequencing of COVID-19 variants next week, as well as a tabletop exercise the following week.

He said the state will be ready when a new version of the vaccine becomes available in the fall, but until then urged West Virginians to take advantage of the vaccines available now.

“If you’ve had a second shot, get a third shot. If you’ve had a third shot, get the fourth shot,” Hoyer said. “We know that the numbers show that it is important. And we know that this is not about preventing you now from getting this, this is about protecting you from serious illness and death.“

Hospitals Ask For Help With Rising Costs

The West Virginia Hospital Association is urging state and federal policymakers to help hospitals by increasing the amount of money provided to patients through government insurance programs.

As health care prices continue to rise, hospitals are feeling the squeeze.

The West Virginia Hospital Association is urging state and federal policymakers to help hospitals by increasing the amount of money provided to patients through government insurance programs.

Association President and CEO Jim Kaufman argued recently that West Virginia hospitals are at a disadvantage. He claimed 75 percent, or 3 out of 4 patients, receive their health insurance through government programs – Medicare, Medicaid, and the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA).

Based on enrollment numbers from PEIA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and data released by the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy, that number may be closer to 61 percent.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) found that as of March 2022, 75,292 West Virginians are enrolled in PEIA and 442,545 in Medicare. As of July 2021, 584,000 West Virginians received Medicaid. This, however, does not account for the state’s uninsured population.

Kaufman said each of these programs pay hospitals less than the cost of care and these payment rates are non-negotiable since they are set by the government.

A report from the American Hospital Association (AHA) in April highlighted necessary hospital expenses have seen an increase from 2019 to 2021. Labor – which accounts for as much as 50 percent of a hospital’s expenses – have increased 19 percent, while drug expenses are up 37 percent.

In an email to WVPB, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources – which manages the state’s Medicaid program – said the organization partners directly with the hospital association to ensure rates are appropriate.

Separately, the West Virginia Department of Administration – which manages PEIA – said via email they have increased reimbursements over the past two years, as well as pay 20 percent more for inpatient COVID cases. However, the email did state that reimbursements for inpatient hospital stays have not increased.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

W.Va. Scaling Back Community Testing

During Thursday’s press briefing, Gov. Jim Justice announced a reduction in the state’s COVID-19 testing regiment, citing low attendance at testing sites.

COVID-19 testing is being scaled back across the state.

During Thursday’s press briefing, Gov. Jim Justice announced a reduction in the state’s COVID-19 testing regiment, citing low attendance at testing sites.

“To be perfectly honest, what’s happening is maybe all day two people come by or whatever, and we’re just spending money that really truly we don’t need to spend right now,” Justice said. “If things happen to get worse, we’ll be right back out there.”

State Health Officer Dr. Ayne Amjad made assurances that free testing, primarily in the form of at-home antigen kits, will still be readily available.

“We do want to reassure everyone that we will still have free testing available with our antigen home test kits,” Amjad said. “Those are dispersing out to health departments, federally qualified health centers and some other agencies, but we just want to make sure that everyone knows that we do have testing available still.”

While antigen tests, also known as rapid tests, provide convenience and fast results, usually in 15 to 20 minutes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does acknowledge they are less reliable for people without symptoms compared to a laboratory test and may require follow-up testing.

The announcement comes as COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations continue to slowly rise in the state. Retired Maj Gen. Jim Hoyer said the state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations had reached 178, and warned that hospital capacity has decreased.

“Over a year ago, we were concerned about watching for the number of 800 and our hospitals based on capacity,” Hoyer said. “At one point we exceeded that to 1,100. Today, based on staffing issues and bed availability, our number that we now watch is 500.”

Coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh says current case numbers could be more than 30 times higher than official counts due in part to the rise of at-home COVID-19 testing.

Justice and his advisers continue to urge West Virginians to stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

New W.Va. Nursing Program Targets Non-Traditional Students

“Non-traditional students are, more so than traditional students, to stay at the bedside,” Callen said.

West Virginia Junior College (WVJC) announced a new nursing program meant to bring in non-traditional students. The program is in partnership with the largest hospital in the state, Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC).

The statewide college already offers associate degrees in nursing, but this 18-month program is entirely online, aside from lab and clinical hours, which will be completed at CAMC.

WVJC CEO Chad Callen said that model can better serve students that aren’t straight out of high school. These are students that might already be working and supporting a family.

“They’re able to manage and balance life and learning simultaneously,” Callen said.

The model is based on WVJC’s online, rural nursing program. Enrollment in the associate degree program will open this fall, with classes starting in April of 2023.

The college and hospital said this is one more way to offset the healthcare worker shortage in the state, especially frontline nurses.

“Non-traditional students are, more so than traditional students, to stay at the bedside,” Callen said. “And that’s where the nursing shortage is occurring at the bedside. Traditional students tend to advance in the profession, and that would take them off the bedside.”

CAMC employs 1,900 registered nurses, and Vice President for Professional Practice and Chief Nursing Officer Heidi Edwards said there is a vacancy of about 200 bedside nurses.

“I say 200, just to say that if there were 300 out there today, we would take all 300 of them, because we can use them and our nurses need a break,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the nursing shortage didn’t start with the pandemic, and it won’t end with it either. She expects this issue to continue into the next decade.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are currently low, compared to the surges seen during the fall and winter. Edwards said nurses are able to take time off, but they’re also having to play catch up with elective procedures that have been delayed.

“It’s certainly challenging. It feels a little bit better right now, but our eyes are always open to the fact that we don’t know what’s coming. And we have to be able to function and be able to care for our community no matter what,” Edwards said.

Hospital Workers in Huntington Plan to Strike Over Benefit Rollbacks

About 1,000 workers at Cabell-Huntington Hospital intend to go on strike next month, after a union vote this week in Huntington.

The workers include housekeepers, maintenance workers, phlebotomists and licensed practical nurses. They’re part of District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.

If the hospital and union cannot agree on a new contract in the coming days, workers will strike on Nov. 3.

Union secretary and treasurer Joyce Gibson says it would be the first strike at the hospital since 1998.

Gibson says workers are facing a rollback of many of their benefits.

“They do have concessions on paid time off. They have concessions on health care,” she said. “And they have basically attacked their union security clause in the contract.”

Gibson says workers are having to quarantine at home, without pay, if they are exposed to COVID-19.

The pandemic has taken a toll on hospital staffing and finances. There is a national shortage of nurses, causing hospitals to pay top dollar to staff their beds. Hospitals have also had to forgo money-making elective procedures at times, to keep up with COVID-19 patients. But Gibson says that’s no excuse to rollback benefits for workers.

“They’ve been working tirelessly,” Gibson said. “We’re looking at retention. This is actually driving people away from the hospital when you come after major concessions.”

Gibson points out that hospitals have received federal and state funding to meet the financial strain of the pandemic.

Cabell-Huntington Hospital did not immediately respond to West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s request for comment. News station WOWK reports hospital administrators have said they want to continue “good faith negotiations in order to reach a fair and equitable agreement.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

WVU Medicine Lifts Zero-Visitation Policy At Eastern Panhandle Hospitals

WVU Medicine’s two Eastern Panhandle hospitals have lifted the zero-visitation policy put in place to combat the coronavirus.

Hospital inpatients and emergency department patients at Berkeley Medical Center and Jefferson Medical Center are now permitted to see visitors.

WVU Medicine East announced the policy shift this week.

Visitors will be allowed between noon and 7:00 p.m. at both Berkeley and Jefferson Medical Centers. They must be screened upon arrival, wear a mask and remain in a patients’ room for the duration of the visit. Patients are also only allowed one adult visitor per day.

Visitors are still not permitted on the Behavioral Health Unit.

“Our ambulatory surgery, outpatient services, physician clinics and urgent care centers will continue to discourage visitors with some exceptions,” said Samantha Richards, WVU Medicine East interim president and CEO, in a press release. “These visitation changes were made after a thorough review of the current COVID-19 pandemic in our area, and our continued response efforts keeping staff, patients and their families at the forefront of our considerations.”

More than a month ago, other hospitals in West Virginia began easing their own restrictions, such as Mon Health System and Charleston Area Medical Center Health System.

At that time, the Eastern Panhandle region, specifically Berkeley County, was seeing the highest rate of new coronavirus cases in the state.

Recently, Monongalia County has taken that lead with more than 800 coronavirus cases to-date, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

Meanwhile, other hospitals in West Virginia, including Boone Memorial in Madison, have reinstated a no visitor policy.

Similarly, some nursing homes in West Virginia have also had to reinstate visitor restrictions after outbreaks of COVID-19. Most recently, Princeton Health Care Center in Mercer County, currently has a confirmed total of at least 30 COVID-19 cases, according to Gov. Jim Justice’s office.

Visitation restrictions at nursing homes were lifted on June 17 in West Virginia, but only if a facility has had no cases of COVID-19 for the 14 consecutive day period following that date.