Staffing Shortages Continue to Impact Hospitals
It appears that being able to have a baby in a hospital may be at jeopardy in some locations as soon as next month.
The medical industry – especially hospitals – continues to be impacted by The Great Resignation – with some of the first services to go are birthing units.
AdvantEdge has been following the medical staffing shortage trend for nearly a year now, beginning with an article we published in June 2021 around how the labor shortage is hurting in-house billing operations.
Recent news has indicated that at least five hospitals across three states have begun scaling back services due to staffing shortages.
For example, in Wyoming, Memorial Hospital of Carbon County is ending labor and delivery services on June 15, which is spending more than $100,000 a week bringing in traveling nurses to take the place of a number of staff nurses that have quit. Another hospital in the state, South Lincoln Medical Center, will stop these services as well beginning June 1.
Also in Massachusetts, Beverly Hospital announced in May it will be closing its freestanding birth center in September. This is after the hospital stopped taking new birth center patients in March due to the staffing shortage.
Regarding this announcement, Mark Gendreau, MD, chief medical officer of Beverly Hospital, was quoted saying, “Based on ongoing staffing issues…we have determined that it is no longer possible to sustainably operate this program in the long term.”
Finally, Schenectady-based Ellis Medicine in New York also paused inpatient adolescent mental health services, effective May 2.
Bringing in talent has been a widespread issue since the start of the pandemic, and has gone even further to include professionals quitting their positions for a number of reasons. These are just the latest stories regarding hospital and healthcare worker shortages, and it’s anticipated that hospitals and medical facilities will continue to feel the strain of available workers. It will be interesting to see what other services and medical functions administrators will need to pause or cut to remain solvent.
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