CEOs and executives from hospitals across the nation met with President Donald Trump April 14 to discuss a new ventilator sharing program that will allow hospitals with unused ventilators to lend the equipment to others facing COVID-19 surges.
President Trump announced the public-private "Dynamic Ventilator Reserve" program during the meeting at the White House. He said hospitals have more than 60,000 unused ventilators, and through the initiative, they will commit to lending any surplus ventilators to other hospitals in immediate need.
President Trump said the new ventilator program will be supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and HHS. He added that under the Defense Production Act, the U.S. will make or acquire 32,000-plus ventilators by the end of May.
Hospital executives at the meeting who committed to the ventilator sharing program include:
- Joe Impicciche, president and CEO of Ascension in St. Louis
- Rick Pollack, president of the American Hospital Association
- Warner Thomas, CEO of Ochsner Health in New Orleans
- Fritz Francois, MD, CMO at NYU Langone Health in New York City
- Tom Mihaljevic, MD, president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic
- David Dill, president and CEO of LifePoint Health in Nashville, Tenn.
- Mikelle Moore, chief community health officer at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City
- Sam Hazen, CEO of HCA Healthcare in Nashville
The Hill reported that executives from Premier and the Federation of American Hospitals, among others, were at the meeting. The executives thanked the president for his efforts to help hospitals fight COVID-19, stating that private-public collaboration will be key moving forward.
Of the program, Mr. Pollack said "the hospital systems around this table have stepped up to the plate to make commitments. And you have our commitment, at the American Hospital Association, that we will work with the rest of our field to make additional commitments and make this as a success."
The topic of testing also came up in the discussion, and some executives said they're concerned if social distancing requirements are lifted too quickly, they will see their case numbers increase.
Read the full meeting transcript here.