The CMS data on vaccinated hospital employees is at odds with many hospitals' own counts, with CMS underreporting vaccination rates, MedPage Today reported Jan. 25.
By the end of 2021, the CDC used data from 40 percent of hospitals nationwide to report that 77.6 percent of hospital workers were fully vaccinated. The American Association of Medical Colleges agreed the CDC figure was likely representative after conducting a similar survey.
However, the hospitals with the highest unvaccinated rates according to the CMS count say the figures CMS reports for their health systems are extremely erroneous.
In the federal database, Florida-based Advent Health Orlando hospital is reported to have 18,576 unvaccinated workers and 25,253 fully vaccinated workers. A spokesperson for AdventHealth Central Floridasaid they do not have 44,000 employees in one hospital and their last counts showed 96 percent of the hospital's employees had complied with the CMS mandate.
New York City-based Mount Sinai Hospital was also listed in the database as having the third highest number of unvaccinated staff, but a spokesperson pushed back and said 99 percent of Mount Sinai Health System's 43,000 employees had been vaccinated.
The reasons for the discrepancies in the data are not completely clear. Some suggest it may be down to the federal database only pulling vaccinations that were given within the hospital or health system, potentially disregarding vaccinations received elsewhere. Others also said that contracted travel nurses may show up as unvaccinated on the federal site as the hospitals don't independently verify their statuses.