Hospitals Seek Relaxed Rules For Nursing, Patient Discharge Monday, January 11, 2021 | Sacramento, CA
Registered nurse Merri Lynn Anderson tends to a patient in a COVID-19 unit at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Jan. 7, 2021.
Photo by Jae C. Hong, AP Photo
Facing the largest “surge on top of a surge” of patients since the start of the pandemic, California hospitals today begged state officials for more relief from the “red tape” they say is hampering patient care.
“We find we are standing on a beach and watching a tsunami approach,” said Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, an industry group. “Yet we are still having to deal with regulations that … that in times of crisis need to be set aside. We need additional flexibility so (hospitals) can focus on patient care and not on paperwork.”
If you ever need to know why someone would argue against the “free market” concept when it comes to hospitals, medical centers or clinics, look no further than the building on the corner of San Vicente and Olympic boulevards in Los Angeles. For more than half a century, locals knew it simply as Midway Hospital. More recently, it was Olympia Medical Center.
Soon, you can call it closed in the middle of a pandemic.
On Dec. 31, Olympia’s corporate owner, Irvine-based Alecto Healthcare, announced that it would shutter the 72-year-old hospital on March 31. Alecto’s statement indicated the move was being made “to allow for substantial renovations” in order to “better serve the healthcare needs of the community.” In truth, Alecto, a for-profit company, had already reached a deal to sell off the property to UCLA Health. The university confirmed the sale but was vague about what it’ll do with the building or the surrounding grounds.
Jan 11, 2021
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California desperately needs more medical workers at facilities swamped by coronavirus patients, but almost no help is coming from a volunteer program that Gov. Gavin Newsom created at the start of the pandemic. An army of 95,000 initially raised their hands, and just 14 are now working in the field.
Very few volunteers actually met qualifications for the California Health Corps, and only a tiny sliver have the high-level experience needed to help with the most serious virus cases that are stretching intensive care units to the limit.
“Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out, and the goal is laudable,” said Stephanie Roberson, government relations director for the California Nurses Association.
Los Angeles County health officials warned that transmissions of COVID-19 at unadvised holiday gatherings and travel is starting to appear as 221 new deaths and 16,982 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Saturday.
Jan. 9—Overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients pouring into medical facilities, hospital leaders urged California Gov. Gavin Newsom to temporarily suspend some regulatory requirements so that doctors and nurses “can focus on patient care and not on paperwork.”
“It is challenging whe