As the tripledemic raged in late 2022 and hospitals met capacity, Oregon regulators told hospitals in mid-December they could run with fewer nurses and reduced standards of patient care without telling patients, according to news outlet Lund Report.
In November and early December, Oregon hospitals — like the rest of the nation — were strained because of a triple surge in COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus cases. On Dec. 7, then-Gov. Kate Brown declared an executive order allowing hospitals to operate under crisis standards of care.
After the declaration, 14 hospitals had told the state they invoked crisis standards. Nine days later, regulators said hospitals invoking crisis standards of care did not have to disclose it to the public, the state or their patients, according to the Report.
In late January, Oregon hospitals continued operating at 90 percent to 100 percent, but the real number of how many hospitals are using crisis care standards is unclear.
"If staffing ratios are impacting the quality of care, the public has every right to know, and hospitals should be disclosing that," Jake Cornett, executive director of Disability Rights Oregon, told the Report.
Read more here about the controversial "crisis standards of care" rule.