At all levels of government — local, state, and federal — decisions are made that will dramatically impact how hospitals deliver first-in-class care. For this reason, it’s vital to help elect candidates who share hospital values.
While COVID-19 may have brought to light many health care inequities, they are nothing new. Disparate health outcomes for minorities, individuals experiencing homelessness, LGBTQ+, and other segments of California’s population have been documented for decades and reflect longstanding structural and systemic inequities that are rooted in racism and discrimination. Today, the disparities have risen to the level of a public health crisis in California, and your hospitals are on the front lines of addressing these inequities.
From fires and floods to earthquakes — and now record-setting high temperatures — your hospitals have seen it all. The recent heatwave posed unique challenges to the state’s energy grid, and although hospitals were specifically exempted from any potential rotating outages, Hospital Council truly thanks you for conserving power when possible while ensuring patient safety was never compromised.
Getting kicked, scratched, pushed, or threatened has become far too commonplace for health care workers and staff in a hospital.
Ambulance patient offload times (APOT) — a longstanding issue that has been exacerbated by COVID-19 — remain problematic in many parts of our region. While the APOT issues are ultimately realized inside the hospital, a significant number of the factors causing APOT delays occur outside the hospital. These include:
I’m excited that thousands of athletes ages 7 to 18 — my cousin’s daughter included — are gathering this week in Sacramento for the 2022 USA Track & Field (USATF) National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships. USATF’s mission is to “drive competitive excellence and popular engagement … in a safe environment for all.” This mission statement reminded me in a really inspirational way of the work hospitals have always done in their communities, and the particular challenges they face today.
The Hospital Council Board of Directors met last week and discussed the significant legislative and regulatory challenges that remain for hospitals as the state budget has been passed and the legislative year heads into its final stages. In addition to reviewing the state budget, the board discussed strategy on the 2030 seismic standards, the newly created Office of Health Care Affordability, and the potential impact of health care minimum wage campaigns taking place in southern California.
Recent horrific mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., have the country discussing and searching its soul once again about what can be done about gun violence. Even more concerning for our hospitals are the attacks at Tulsa’s St. Francis Hospital, where the shooter killed four people and then himself, and the stabbing of a doctor and two nurses at Southern California’s Encino Hospital. These incidents highlighted the vulnerability of our hospitals and health care facilities.
As I talk to many of you regularly about the issues hospitals face fulfilling their essential missions of care in their communities, the feeling I sense more than any other is frustration. Whether it is conflicting directives from state agencies or blame from a general public understandably exhausted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it can feel like no one is listening to us as we express the very urgent need for policies that support, rather than undermine, the vital work hospitals perform.
After more than two-and-a-half years, I know we are all tired, exhausted, frustrated, and ready to put COVID-19 behind us. But although much of the public and many of our elected officials have moved on from the pandemic, choosing to get back to regularly scheduled activities and no longer considering this a health emergency, COVID-19 remains an issue that deeply impacts Californians and our hospitals. Nationwide, COVID-19 cases have been steadily rising over the past several weeks, and closer to home in the Bay Area is where you’ll find California’s worst case rate.