Elinore Kaufman, MD, a surgical critical care and trauma surgery fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is battling two public health crises right now: COVID-19 and gun violence, she wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.

Astria Regional Medical Center in Yakima, Wash., will reopen under a lease deal with the state of Washington, according to the Yakima Herald.

The U.S. has fewer active physicians and hospital beds per capita compared to similar countries like France or Canada, according to a March 27 analysis from Kaiser Family Foundation.

Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System developed a policy on how to ration care in case the system runs out of ventilators and intensive care unit beds, reports NPR affiliate Michigan Radio.

The demand for hospital beds in the U.S. is projected to far exceed capacity by the second week of April, according to a new analysis from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle.

Hahnemann University Hospital, which closed last year, will not be reopened to treat COVID-19 patients, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced March 26.

Within California, Kaiser Permanente's San Jose Medical Center has particularly felt the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Stephen Parodi, MD, executive vice president of Kaiser Permanente, reported in a recent interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Amid the coronavirus epidemic, hospitals trying to discharge patients quickly are hitting a roadblock—nursing homes reluctant to accept them due to fear of infecting their residents, the Los Angeles Times reports.

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread widely in the U.S., many cities have far too few hospital beds to treat a surge of COVID-19 patients. To expand capacity, state and local governments across the nation are rushing to reopen hospitals that were recently shut down. 

Pittsburgh-based UPMC should cancel elective surgeries to conserve supplies and limit the risk of spreading COVID-19, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board wrote March 26. 

Noah Syndergaard, a pitcher for the New York Mets, is scheduled to undergo surgery for a torn elbow ligament March 26 at Hospital for Special Surgery's Florida location, despite a state ban on elective surgeries, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Access and transfer centers are becoming the touchpoint for all kinds of care, including high acuity and outpatient cases. These centers can help health systems control and manage different care models while also improving margins.

A hospital in Blue Island, Ill., will reopen and be used for quarantining people who have tested positive for or been exposed to COVID-19, according to the Chicago Tribune. 

Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente said it is closing some medical office buildings and consolidating to fewer locations in some of its service areas as it postpones some appointments and expands the use of virtual visits. 

In the coming weeks and months, the volume of COVID-19 tests will increase across various care settings, including hospitals, labs, and drive-through testing sites. Becker’s Hospital Review recently reported that six health systems – including Mayo Clinic, Geisinger and Stanford – are developing their own diagnostic tests in light of loosened restrictions by the FDA.

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has unfolded over the last few weeks, time often feels like it’s slowed to a standstill. A recent blog post by CipherHealth takes the time to reocgnize the providers on the front lines.

If the novel coronavirus continues to spread widely in the U.S., a lack of hospital beds in certain areas will limit access to necessary care. Some of the states hit hardest by the COVID-19 outbreak, such as New York and Washington, have low hospital bed availability, making it vital for federal, state and local policymakers to take aggressive action to expand capacity. 

State and healthcare officials in Washington state have begun drafting plans for their worst-case scenario: denying patients complete medical care if the coronavirus overwhelms the health system in coming weeks.

CMS is urging all hospitals to comply with the American College of Surgeons' recommendation to cancel non-urgent elective procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

CMS Administrator Seema Verma urged all hospitals Wednesday to comply with the American College of Surgeons' recommendation to cancel nonessential and non-urgent elective procedures. The following health systems issued alerts Wednesday regarding changes to elective and non-essential procedures: