Texas will get out-of-state help for hospitals as COVID cases climb, governor says
With COVID-19 cases climbing, Gov. Greg Abbott says the state will enlist the help of out of state staff to assist Texas hospitals.
Abbott’s announcement on Monday comes after Texas hospitals were being directed to work with cities and counties to use federal coronavirus funds for staffing needs. Staffing is tight in North Texas hospitals, said Stephen Love, president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.
How the staff will now be funded was not immediately clear. DSHS spokesperson Chris Van Deusen said the state is waiting for direction from the Legislature on what funds to use.
“The actual logistics have not been worked out, but if they can in fact bring in that supplemental staffing from large agencies, especially out of state, it’s going to help alleviate part of the strain on our staff,” Love said. “We’re running very high occupancy, especially not only in adult hospitals but pediatric hospitals. So we thank the governor for this. Hopefully we can get it on track, and we can get the staffing in here as soon as possible.”
In previous surges, Love said he was pleased with the support from the Department of State Health Services, which helped coordinate supplemental staffing needs, such as nurses and respiratory therapists, through staffing agencies. Love said the state is best positioned to oversee this process as it has “economic purchasing power” that “gives them a lot of clout to sign on with some of these large agencies.”
Van Deusen has previously said the department spent $5.4 billion from April 2020 through June 2021 to contract with staffing firms to hire health care providers. The positions were funded through a combination of state and federal funds that will be reimbursed by FEMA, he said.
“The main thing we’re trying to do is get the staff in place,” Love said.
DSHS Commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt told the Senate’s Health and Human Services committee on Tuesday that it was his understanding that the staffing agency contracts with DSHS must be paid by the agency.
“I had directed our staff, our state medical operations center all along to be prepared to resume the role of basically coordinating those requests for staffing, and they have and they’re ready and able to go if they’re given the appropriations to provide staff in that manner,” he said.
Much of Tuesday’s conversation in committee centered on concerns about Texas nurses being moved from one hospital to another though a staffing agency.
In an Aug. 5 letter to Abbott, the Texas Hospital Association said hospitals have taken steps to increase staffing levels using bonuses and extra shift pay, tapping nursing schools for help, and reaching out to staffing agencies. The association asked for a return to a statewide system.
“Despite these efforts, turnover and stress have created extreme challenges on the frontlines, and the costs for contract nursing assistance continue to surpass rates higher than ever seen before,” the letter from President and CEO Ted Shaw reads. “Unfortunately, hospitals are coming up woefully short in their ability to ensure staff is in place to respond to COVID-19 as well as handle other urgent and acute health care needs in their communities.”
Texas reported more than 10,000 COVID-19 patients in Texas Hospitals as of Monday. In the medical region that includes Tarrant County, coronavirus hospitalizations made up more than 15% of total hospital capacity as of Monday. There are more than 1,300 available hospital beds and less than 100 available ICU beds in the region, state data shows.
Abbott also sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association requesting hospitals voluntarily postpone elective medical procedures to free up capacity. Abbott also directed state agencies to open additional COVID-19 antibody infusion centers and increase vaccine availability.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 4:48 PM.
