Investment losses and higher staffing and supply costs are all contributing, but one expert cautions to look at the long-term picture
Banner Health
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Why Colorado’s hospitals have bent — but not broken — during the latest COVID surge
Nearly 19 months in, these are some of the toughest days for Colorado hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. Even as the latest surge in coronavirus hospitalizations appears to have plateaued — what state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy this week called an “unstable equilibrium” — hospitals across Colorado have still been scrambling to add critical-care beds […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Staff at five Colorado hospitals will have to get vaccinated against coronavirus. What about all the rest?
Update on July 28, 2021: Two more hospital systems, UCHealth and Denver Health, have announced they will require employees to be vaccinated by the fall. This brings the total number of hospitals with vaccine mandates to nearly 20. Employees at five Colorado hospitals will be required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus by this fall, […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, News
An increasing number of Colorado coronavirus patients are surviving, and fewer need ventilators
Back in March, one of the most pressing problems surrounding coronavirus was the fear that hospitals could run out of ventilators. Doctors were quickly intubating patients, believing it was the best chance to save their lives from a contagious and deadly disease they had never seen before. But a lot has changed in three months […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Health, Politics and Government
“It saved us”: A recent infusion of federal funds is helping Colorado’s rural hospitals stay afloat
A recent infusion of federal funds is providing much-needed relief for rural hospitals already under financial pressure when the coronavirus crisis hit Colorado. Though hospital administrators say the emergency funds will provide immediate support, there is uncertainty around how and when the funds can be used, specifically if they can be used to make up […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, Politics and Government
Colorado is banking on telehealth to slow coronavirus. But many rural hospitals lack necessary resources.
Colorado health officials want to use “remote” health care services, known as telehealth, as a tool to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But despite recent regulatory changes intended to make it easier for patients to seek medical advice or treatment without leaving their home, many rural hospitals and clinics lack adequate funding, […]
Posted inHealth, News
Colorado hospitals are postponing elective surgeries, reusing masks in preparation for a coronavirus surge
Some Colorado hospitals are postponing elective surgeries, imposing greater restrictions on visitors and telling staff to reuse protective respirator masks that are intended for one-time use. The moves come as health care systems in the state change their focus from testing for transmission of the new coronavirus, to trying to slow the spread of COVID-19 […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Northern Colorado hospital worker tests positive for COVID-19, prompts possible self-quarantine for colleagues
A health care professional who works at hospitals in Weld and Larimer counties has been identified as one of the nearly three dozen people who tested positive for the coronavirus in Colorado, The Colorado Sun has learned. People who came into prolonged, close contact with the woman in a Banner Health emergency room are being […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News
In rural Colorado, emergency medical services struggle to keep money-losing ambulances rolling
When flames shot from the third-story balcony of a downtown Frisco condo this spring, a firefighter riding in an ambulance got there first, zipping a block over from patrol on Main Street, scoping a plan of attack and attaching the first hose the moment a full fire engine arrived. In tiny Holyoke, population 2,215, when […]