Five New York healthcare system leaders released a statement Feb. 24 to "clear up confusion in the public and the media regarding decisions to discharge patients to nursing homes" during the state's spring COVID-19 surge.
The letter was penned by:
- Steven Corwin, MD, president and CEO at NewYork-Presbyterian
- Kenneth Davis, MD, president and CEO at Mount Sinai Health System
- Michael Dowling, president and CEO at Northwell Health
- Robert Grossman, MD, CEO at NYU Langone Health
- Philip Ozuah, MD, PhD, president and CEO at Montefiore Medicine
Since the start of the pandemic, hospitals statewide cared for and discharged 135,000 COVID-19 inpatients, the letter states. The executives noted the importance of each patient's life, as well as the significant emotional toll the pandemic has had on patients, families and hospital staff.
Starting in late February and early March of 2020, it wasn't clear how many patients would need to be admitted. The pandemic experience in Italy, where hospitals were overwhelmed, informed the leaders' preparedness efforts. The CEOs canceled thousands of non-urgent procedures, but still had to increase capacity.
Part of this effort was to discharge patients to non-hospital care settings, including nursing homes, where they could be safely cared for, the execs wrote. "It is an everyday practice for hospitals to discharge stable, medically recovered patients to nursing homes so long as the home can safely care for the patient," the leaders wrote, noting this is true even of infectious patients who are medically stable, if proper precautions are taken.
The letter cites both federal and state guidelines, including a March 13 statement from CMS that reads, "Nursing homes should admit any individuals that they would normally admit to their facility, including individuals from hospitals where a case of COVID-19 was/is present."
The leaders noted that neither federal nor state directives required nursing homes to accept patients that they couldn't safely care for.
Lastly, the leaders cited multiple studies and data about the infectious period for COVID-19 patients, concluding that, "a great many recovering COVID-19 patients who were discharged from hospitals to nursing homes in New York were no longer transmitting the virus."
Read the full letter here.
More articles on leadership and management:
Children's Minnesota appoints most diverse board to date
Senate hearings for HHS, surgeon general this week: 8 things to know
American Medical Association names chair of RUC committee