CoxHealth adds more beds as COVID-19 numbers rise
December 9, 2020
Sheila Harris
According to CoxHealth CEO, Steve Edwards, the Midwest is experiencing a healthcare crisis.
In a media briefing Monday afternoon, Edwards said 60 southwest Missouri residents have died from COVID-19 in Cox hospitals in the last two weeks, one third of the 180 people who have died in their hospitals since the beginning of the pandemic in March. He doesn’t expect the situation to resolve quickly.
According to a December 3 statement by Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett, the hospital twice reached maximum bed capacity in the previous two weeks due to an influx of COVID-19 patients. For area residents who become ill or incapacitated, a hospital’s “diversion status,” as it is known, means that a bed must be found in a hospital outside of the area, possibly even out of the state.
“This is only the second time I can remember this happening in my 20-year healthcare career,” Bass said.
Steve Edwards said critical access rural hospitals, as Monett’s is classified, have a limited 25-bed capacity per government regulation. That number includes patients of all types, including the beds in the maternity wards. When the 25-bed limit is reached, patients must be diverted to other hospitals that may or may not have the bed-capacity themselves.
In Springfield, CoxHealth and Mercy have taken turns being on diversion, with many patients spending as much as an entire day in the emergency room, waiting for a bed to become available.
“Seventy percent of our COVID-19 patients in Springfield are coming from surrounding rural counties,” Edwards said.
In an attempt to serve the needs of the area, Cox South will add 33 beds to its fifth floor COVID-19 ICU unit, which are projected to be ready for use by the end of December. With this expansion, the health system will have added more than 180 beds to its hospitals since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“We hope we don’t need to use them,” Edwards said. “But if we do, we want to have them available.”
Edwards said, too, that additional beds don’t necessarily mean additional capacity, since staffing will also be needed. CoxHealth is currently working to bring in more traveling health professionals using resources applied for through the state.
In an effort to free up hospital bed space, Cox will also begin a home health program for COVID-19 patients who are no longer infectious, but may need additional care. With the program, they can move back into their homes under the auspices of an advanced care professional and receive virtual visits from their doctors on a regular basis.
In a move designed to help with efficiency of the diagnosis of COVID-19, CoxHealth will also begin offering Rapid Tests at their urgent care locations, including Monett.
According to Edwards, while the rapid tests offer only 95 percent result-accuracy, compared to the 99 percent of the PCR test, the rapid results (usually known within 20 or 30 minutes) are useful in situations where large numbers of people need tested.
Sheila Harris
According to CoxHealth CEO, Steve Edwards, the Midwest is experiencing a healthcare crisis.
In a media briefing Monday afternoon, Edwards said 60 southwest Missouri residents have died from COVID-19 in Cox hospitals in the last two weeks, one third of the 180 people who have died in their hospitals since the beginning of the pandemic in March. He doesn’t expect the situation to resolve quickly.
According to a December 3 statement by Darren Bass, president of Cox Monett, the hospital twice reached maximum bed capacity in the previous two weeks due to an influx of COVID-19 patients. For area residents who become ill or incapacitated, a hospital’s “diversion status,” as it is known, means that a bed must be found in a hospital outside of the area, possibly even out of the state.
“This is only the second time I can remember this happening in my 20-year healthcare career,” Bass said.
Steve Edwards said critical access rural hospitals, as Monett’s is classified, have a limited 25-bed capacity per government regulation. That number includes patients of all types, including the beds in the maternity wards. When the 25-bed limit is reached, patients must be diverted to other hospitals that may or may not have the bed-capacity themselves.
In Springfield, CoxHealth and Mercy have taken turns being on diversion, with many patients spending as much as an entire day in the emergency room, waiting for a bed to become available.
“Seventy percent of our COVID-19 patients in Springfield are coming from surrounding rural counties,” Edwards said.
In an attempt to serve the needs of the area, Cox South will add 33 beds to its fifth floor COVID-19 ICU unit, which are projected to be ready for use by the end of December. With this expansion, the health system will have added more than 180 beds to its hospitals since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“We hope we don’t need to use them,” Edwards said. “But if we do, we want to have them available.”
Edwards said, too, that additional beds don’t necessarily mean additional capacity, since staffing will also be needed. CoxHealth is currently working to bring in more traveling health professionals using resources applied for through the state.
In an effort to free up hospital bed space, Cox will also begin a home health program for COVID-19 patients who are no longer infectious, but may need additional care. With the program, they can move back into their homes under the auspices of an advanced care professional and receive virtual visits from their doctors on a regular basis.
In a move designed to help with efficiency of the diagnosis of COVID-19, CoxHealth will also begin offering Rapid Tests at their urgent care locations, including Monett.
According to Edwards, while the rapid tests offer only 95 percent result-accuracy, compared to the 99 percent of the PCR test, the rapid results (usually known within 20 or 30 minutes) are useful in situations where large numbers of people need tested.