Hospitals and nursing homes across the United States are bracing for further staff shortages as state deadlines for healthcare workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are met.
Some ultimatums expire this week in states like New York, California, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and there are fears that some employees will resign or be fired or suspended before getting vaccinated.
“We don’t know how this is going to play out. We are concerned that an already severe personnel problem will be exacerbated, ”said California Hospital Association spokesman Jan Emerson-Shea, adding that the organization“ fully ”supports the state’s immunization requirement.
New York health service employees had until the end of Monday to receive at least one dose, but some hospitals had already begun suspending or taking other action against those who had not been vaccinated.
Buffalo’s Erie County Medical Center Corporation said about 5% of its hospital staff have been suspended without pay for not being vaccinated, along with 20% of its nursing home staff.
And the state’s largest healthcare provider, Northwell Health, said it has begun removing unvaccinated workers from its system, although it claimed that nearly 100% of its staff are vaccinated.
“To those who have not made that decision yet, please do the right thing,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Some New York hospitals prepared contingency plans that included cutting non-critical services and limiting nursing home admissions. The governor also drew up plans to summon the help of members of the National Guard with medical training, and retired or vaccinated workers from out of state.
About a dozen states have vaccination mandates that cover workers in hospitals, nursing homes, or both.
Some allow exceptions for medical or religious reasons, but those employees must undergo regular COVID-19 testing.
States that have these types of requirements tend to have high vaccination rates. The highest rates are concentrated in the northeast, and the lowest in the southeast and north-central.
The Biden administration will also require that the roughly 17 million health center workers who receive Medicare or federal Medicaid be fully vaccinated according to a rule that is still being developed.
This has worried some hospital managers, especially in rural communities, where vaccination rates tend to be lower.
“We are seeing the need to reassign staff, in some cases just to maintain essential services, and there will be some delays” in care, said Troy Bruntz, president and CEO of Community Hospital in McCook, Nebraska.
He noted that 25 of the 330 hospital employees said they would undoubtedly resign if vaccination was required. The rest of the roughly 100 unvaccinated employees – a group that includes nurses and cleaning and maintenance staff – have not made up their minds.
He is also concerned that it will be difficult to hire new workers when the hospital is already understaffed.
“It doesn’t make us feel confident that this is not going to become something of a nightmare for American healthcare,” he said.
Many hospitals and nursing homes are already experiencing staff shortages as many nurses and other professionals have quit due to pandemic-related burnout or left in search of more profitable jobs traveling from one state to another.
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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan, and Hollingsworth from Mission, Kansas.
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