Methodist Le Bonheur – Memphis Flyer

Healthcare workers are “strained and stressed” as Covid-19 hospitalization numbers rise in Shelby County.

That’s according to Kristen Bell, administrative director of nursing at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital. Bell said usually summer is a time when there isn’t as much cold and virus activity, but Covid-19 hospitalizations here are peaking similar to winter numbers.

A Methodist spokesperson said that as of Wednesday, 286 patients are hospitalized due to Covid-19 across its system here. That’s the highest number since the start of the pandemic. Of those patients, 73 are in the ICU.

Bell said that Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital has needed to utilize its expansion department, its Covid-19 units are full, and the emergency department is “saturated.” Morale is down, according to Bell.

“It’s very much a capacity issue,” she said. “We are bursting at the seams. A bed isn’t clean for very long before we put someone else in it.”

Capacity isn’t the only concern, Bell said. The number of skilled workers able to provide specialized care to Covid-19 patients is also limited.

“People aren’t coming to the hospital because they have a nose bleed or need stitches,” Bell said. “These people are really sick and need a higher level of care.”

Bell said in June she believed the worst part of the pandemic was over, with several days of single-digit Covid-19 hospitalizations. But a couple weeks after the Fourth of July, the numbers started to tick upward again.

The only way to decrease the number of hospitalized cases is for more people to get vaccinated. The vast majority of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated, Bell said.

“A lot of our nurses are disappointed and frustrated that more people haven’t gotten vaccinated,” Bell said. “The vaccine is our secret weapon. It’s how we get out of this. Why would you not bring your weapon to battle?”

As healthcare workers, Bell said nurses want “nothing more than to heal people, but it’s very hard to heal people once they get this virus.”

Mask Mandate

Emergency directors of Memphis hospital systems urged the city to reinstate a mask mandate in a letter Tuesday.

The letter, read to the Memphis City Council by the city’s chief operating officer Doug McGowen, predicts a crisis for hospitals if Covid-19 cases continue to surge.

The Covid-19 rate of hospitalizations is expected to double by the end of this month and increase six-fold by the end of September, McGowen said.

“Failure to provide mitigation strategies at this point will be catastrophic to the Mid-South and will affect health care at every level,” the letter reads.

The Shelby County Commission voted Wednesday in favor of a new 30-day universal mask mandate and reinstituting six-foot social distancing indoors.

The Federal Trade Commission has filed an administrative complaint and authorized a suit in federal court to block the proposed $350 million acquisition by Memphis-based Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare of the two Memphis-area Saint Francis hospitals owned by Dallas-based healthcare system Tenet Healthcare Corporation.

The complaint alleges that the proposed acquisition would substantially lessen competition in the Memphis area for a broad range of inpatient medical and surgical diagnostic and treatment services that require an overnight hospital stay. According to the complaint, if the proposed acquisition is consummated, healthcare costs will rise, and the incentive to expand service offerings, invest in technology, improve access to care, and focus on quality of health care provided in the Memphis area will diminish. The FTC says only four hospital systems currently provide general acute care services in the Memphis area.

The complaint alleges that the proposed acquisition would reduce that number to three, giving the combined health system control of approximately 60 percent of the Memphis-area market for general acute care services. Only one other major hospital system, Baptist Memorial Health Care, would meaningfully constrain the combined health system; the fourth system in the area, Regional One, is smaller and focuses on a different patient population, the FTC complaint says.

“Competition between hospitals helps keep prices down and quality high, and that’s as true in Memphis as it is elsewhere,” said Daniel Francis, Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “It’s clear that patients in the Memphis area have benefitted from the competitive pressure that Saint Francis brings to bear on Methodist, through lower rates, more options for insurers and patients, and quality improvements. This transaction would take that competition away, and patients will pay the price.”

In response to the FTC’s action, a joint statement was issued by Sally Hurt-Deitch, CEO of Saint Francis Healthcare, and Michael Ugwueke, president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur:

“Our joint commitment has always been to improve healthcare delivery for the residents of Memphis, Bartlett and the surrounding communities, including enhancing access to care, cutting-edge medical technology and the highest quality physicians and staff. Our two organizations promote a culture of compassion backed by strong core values, which together, we believe will have an even greater impact on care delivered in these communities. We are reviewing this recent action by the FTC and actively considering next steps. We are surprised by the FTC action given the strong support for the transaction by local stakeholders, including leading local health plans, physicians, employers, and community leaders and the evidence that the transaction will lead to lower prices, improved quality, and enhanced access to care for Memphis-area patients.”