Ingrid Ulrey, left, Region 10 Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, speaks at Salem Hospital on March 31, 2022 with Leah Mitchell, right, Salem Health’s executive vice president of operations (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)
Delayed health care, mental health and substance abuse are posing significant challenges for American hospitals as they see a sharp decline in the number of Covid patients, according to the region’s top federal health official.
Ingrid Ulrey, regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho, spoke at Salem Hospital following a March 31 tour of the emergency department and intensive care unit.
“There’s hope in the air this spring as case rates continue to decline. But we know even as that continues, many people continue to be harmed, including the people you’re serving today in this hospital,” Ulrey said.
She spoke alongside Leah Mitchell, Salem Health’s executive vice president of operations, and James Parr, the hospital’s chief financial officer.
After seeing a surge in hospital patients with Covid that peaked during the last week of January, Salem Hospital had just four Covid inpatients on March 31 – the lowest total since the early weeks of the pandemic in March 2020.
Ulrey said hospitals are now dealing with the challenge of “deferred maintenance” – people seeking care they put off during the pandemic, like cancer screenings – and patients needing medical attention for conditions that worsened as people stayed away from hospitals. The number of people experiencing mental health crisis, suicidal ideation and substance abuse issues hasalso increased in hospital emergency departments, Ulrey said. Mitchell said Salem Hospital is seeing that trend, though she didn’t have exact figures available.
Salem Hospital remains busier than pre-pandemic, said Parr, and that’s posing ongoing financial challenges. The hospital reported total operating losses of about $2.85 million to the Oregon Health Authority over the first three quarters of 2021. It’s the first time since at least 2007 the nonprofit hospital has lost money providing care, and Parr said he doesn’t see that changing soon even with fewer Covid patients.
“Other healthcare demand is absorbing the vacant space that the Covid patients were previously in, so we’re actually seeing incredibly high volumes compared to what our normal volume and rate was before. So it hasn’t come back down,” Parr said. Labor shortages remain an ongoing challenge too, he said, forcing the hospital to rely on more expensive contract labor to keep beds staffed.
Ulrey said the U.S. is in a good spot now with a low number of Covid cases, but stressed the need for continued action to monitor the virus’s spread and respond quickly to any new variants.
“This is, I would say, a fragile point in our journey through Covid. While we were encouraged and there’s exhaustion from Covid and people are eager to get back to normal life, it’s really important to stay focused,” she said.
She called for Congress to allocate money to respond to the pandemic “so that we will continue to have the (personal protective equipment) and the supplies and the testing and vaccinations that are necessary, as well as the capacity of our scientists and our epidemiologists to survey what’s happening and spotting variants and be prepared for whatever’s next, for the next surge.”
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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