ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Health has updated its list of impacted hospitals and regions. In addition to 39 other New York hospitals, Olean General Hospital has been ordered to stop performing elective procedures for a minimum of two weeks.
The New York State Department of Health updated the impacted hospital determination list to include 40 hospitals that have been notified to stop non-essential, non-urgent, elective surgeries after having met the state’s threshold for “high risk regions” or low capacity facilities.
Due to the increasing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in three regions (Mohawk, Finger Lakes and Central New York), all hospitals in those regions are being included on the Impacted List.
In addition, impacted hospitals in other regions include Olean General Hospital, Erie County Medical Center, Mercy Hospital in Buffalo and Bertrand Chaffee Hospital in Springville.
“We will use every available tool to help ensure that hospitals can manage the COVID-19 winter surge,” said Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “I want to remind New Yorkers that getting vaccinated and boosted remains the best way to protect against serious illness and hospitalization from COVID-19. Vaccination also protects our hospital system. We cannot return to the early months of the pandemic when hospitals were overwhelmed.”
On Nov. 26, in preparation for the anticipated COVID-19 winter surge, Governor Hochul signed an Executive Order to ensure hospital capacity statewide is able to meet regional needs while maintaining the long-term resiliency of the State’s healthcare infrastructure.
The order also enables New York State to quickly acquire and distribute critical supplies to combat the pandemic.
The Department issued additional guidance in relation to the order to hospitals on Dec. 3.
Since Dec.13, data that is self-reported by facilities through the Health Electronic Response Data System is reviewed and assessed weekly by the Department and impacted facilities are notified on Fridays that procedure limitations will take effect the following Thursday.
Criteria used to determine “high risk regions” includes low current regional bed capacity with 90% or more beds occupied based on the previous 7-day average; or 85-90% occupancy rate based on the previous 7-day average and a new COVID-19 hospital admission rate for the region (previous 7-day average per 100,000 population) greater than 4%.
Based on the weekly assessment conducted by the Department, the aforementioned facilities must stop performing in-hospital elective surgery. If their occupancy is above 95%, they are additionally required to stop elective surgeries at hospital-owned ambulatory surgical centers for a minimum of two weeks.
The Department also retains the discretion to require any facility or region to limit non-essential elective procedures and/or implement other actions to coordinate services, as determined by DOH as necessary to protect public health.
The following procedures are considered essential and not covered under the Executive Order: cancer (including diagnostic procedure of suspected cancer), neurosurgery, intractable pain, highly symptomatic patients, transplants, trauma, cardiac with symptoms, limb threatening vascular procedures, dialysis vascular access and patients that are at a clinically high risk of harm if their procedures are not completed.
