{"id":88401,"date":"2020-05-16T01:09:25","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T07:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorado-hospitals-eager-to-resume-elective-surgeries\/"},"modified":"2020-05-16T01:09:25","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T07:09:25","slug":"southwest-colorado-hospitals-eager-to-resume-elective-surgeries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorado-hospitals-eager-to-resume-elective-surgeries\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Colorado hospitals eager to resume elective surgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mercy
Mercy Regional Medical Center staff members, from left, Dr. Kendall Rockler, Dr. Jack McManus, Physicians Assistant Mark Foster and Dr. Darcy Rumberger work April 17 in the negative-pressure area of the Emergency Department at the hospital.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Restrictions enacted by Gov. Jared Polis to halt \u201cnonessential\u201d medical care so hospitals could better prepare for an influx of COVID-19 patients left rural and critical-access hospitals in Southwest Colorado with empty operating rooms and financial losses from what is typically an important source of revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our patients have been suffering in pain or disability,\u201d said Karis Morrall, marketing coordinator for Animas Surgical Hospital, in an email to The Durango Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Elective surgeries are not necessarily optional, it just means patients can schedule them in advance. As COVID-19 restrictions ease in Colorado, elective surgeries and procedures unrelated to the virus, such as kidney stone removal, cataract surgery and mammogram screenings, are now allowed.<\/p>\n

Yet patient numbers have not returned to pre-COVID-19 levels at Animas Surgical Hospital, and the Small Business Association\u2019s rules render the facility ineligible for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program.<\/p>\n

The small, physician-owned surgical hospital employs about 150 local nurses, doctors, technicians, clerks and other staff. However, because Animas Surgical Hospital partners with a larger health care management company, it is deemed an \u201caffiliate\u201d of the company by the Small Business Administration and therefore ineligible for funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that Animas Surgical Hospital isn\u2019t the only health care facility facing this issue,\u201d Morrall wrote. \u201cMany small rural hospitals across the country operate as part of a larger health system or participate in partnerships with other companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of those smaller facilities are also the only option for care in rural areas.<\/p>\n

Hospitals across the United States are furloughing workers because of industry losses related to dropped surgeries and procedures. In states like Colorado, where 36 of the 48 rural and frontier counties are officially designated by the federal government as Health Professional Shortage Areas, the impact is even more profound.<\/p>\n

Southwest Health System of Cortez was down $3 million in revenue in March, and again in April, totaling $6 million in lost revenue.<\/p>\n

But CEO Tony Sudduth said in a phone interview that the Southwest Health System has been \u201cpretty fortunate compared to other hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hospital was eligible and able to procure funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, meaning none of its workers were furloughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurgeries are going up, but we are still down over 60% as far as the number of procedures,\u201d Sudduth said.<\/p>\n

What Congress is doing<\/div>\n

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., visited Animas Surgical Hospital last week. He said in a phone interview that the affiliation rule was created to \u201cmake sure big businesses don\u2019t benefit from the Paycheck Protection Program.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he is working with Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., to change PPP provisions so that hospitals like Animas Surgical Hospital can be considered independent entities able to apply for loans.<\/p>\n

Congress designated $175 billion for hospitals in previous COVID-19 economic relief packages, but much of that funding has been directed to large hospital systems serving high numbers of Medicare patients. Community Health Systems, HCA Healthcare and Universal Health Services, for-profit hospital chains, have received more than $1 billion from the CARES Act.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allocated $10 billion in funding to critical access hospitals and rural health clinics, but many of those facilities have yet to receive relief.<\/p>\n

Hospitals work to protect patients, staff<\/div>\n

Beyond the financial toll of COVID-19, reopening elective surgeries and procedures is an arduous process as hospitals determine the best way to keep workers safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatient and staff safety is our top priority,\u201d Morrall wrote. Animas Surgical Hospital screens and tests the temperature of everyone who enters its doors. There is also a limit to the number of visitors allowed to accompany patients and many of the clinic appointments have transitioned to telehealth.<\/p>\n

Mercy Regional Medical Center, part of Centura Health, is \u201cseeing a steady rise in the numbers of patients coming to the hospital,\u201d Toni Green-Cheatwood, Centura Health Group vice president, wrote in an email to the Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a tremendous response from the community,\u201d Sudduth said. Osprey employees sewed masks for the hospital during the shortage of medical protective equipment, and the hospital is working with the Colorado Hospital Association to ensure it has enough masks and equipment for elective procedures and surgeries.<\/p>\n

Morrall with Animas Surgical Hospital also said employees are \u201cextremely grateful for the generosity and resourcefulness of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hospital was struggling to find child-sized masks. Within days, the MakerLab and other local sewers produced a stockpile of homemade pediatric masks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we\u2019ve faced gaps in PPE supplies, Durango residents have been quick to help,\u201d Morrall said.<\/p>\n

Emily Hayes is a graduate student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

procedures cause financial losses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-88401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88401"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=88401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}