COVID-19 patient volumes peaked in New York in late March, demonstrating major communication gaps between the state's more than 200 hospitals, according to The New York Times.
Patients flooded to Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York City, causing what one medical resident described as "apocalyptic" conditions. Meanwhile, 3,500 beds sat empty at other hospitals in the state, some of which were only 20 minutes away from Elmhurst Hospital.
These discrepancies occurred because New York did not have a unified system to match patients with open beds in the state. To eliminate the silos between distinct health systems and hospitals, the state created a live map of conditions at each hospital. If one hospital had an influx of patients, health workers identified patients who could be transported to a different facility.
Leaders from the state's five largest private health systems met every other day to aid in this coordination. Michael Dowling, CEO of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, said this level of collaboration was relatively atypical, but "necessary for the protection of the community," according to the Times.
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