TidalHealth Nanticoke Hospital dealing with shortages
By Glenn RolfeSEAFORD — Like numerous businesses navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic, TidalHealth Nanticoke Hospital continues to grapple with challenges.
Most notably among them is staff shortages — and nurses top that list.
“We already had a nursing shortage going into the pandemic and then when you have people leave the profession or are retiring early, it’s putting an extra burden on health care,” said TidalHealth Nanticoke President Penny Short. “The national workforce shortage, that’s not just affecting the restaurants and areas like that, it is affecting health care.”
Factoring into the staff shortage was the Biden administration’s health care worker vaccination mandate, which recently was blocked temporarily by injunctions from several federal judges. The vaccination mandate, linked to the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services, covered an estimated 17 million health care workers who were required to get their first vaccine dose by Dec. 6.
“The federal government came out with that mandate. Any hospitals that care for Medicare patients had to be vaccinated. That has since been put to a halt because a federal judge put a halt on that. That was just last week,” said Ms. Short. “We did have concerns because … we had lost some employees and knowing that we did have some shortages, we just could not afford to lose one employee, let alone more than that.”
At present, staff vaccination at TidalHealth Nanticoke is not mandated, but encouraged. Meanwhile, COVID testing continues for unvaccinated staff members.
“They are doing weekly testing, those that aren’t vaccinated,” said Ms. Short. “But if the federal government comes back and says it has to be mandated, then we will have to follow that mandate.”
Worker shortages have hit TidalHealth Nanticoke in all areas, Ms. Short said.
“Maintenance workers, radiology staff … but what has hit us the hardest right now is nurses,” she said.
What that means is that TidalHealth Nanticoke, like other hospitals, are turning to “travel nurses” and paying a lot extra for them.
“When you have that shortage, then you pay for temporary labor and in the nursing area, it is travel nurses to help support the gaps,” said Ms. Short. “Those costs are probably five times what a nurse would cost that would be a permanent employee. They will come in for like 13-week assignments to help support where the gaps are.”
“In this time, we’ve seen a lot of workers leave the profession. It has been hard work over the past years, and many are leaving the profession to try to find something new to do,” said Ms. Short. “I think we are seeing that in many areas — not just health care, that people are just redefining what it is they want to do.”
Financial assistance in the form of more than $1.5 million was announced last week by Delaware’s Democratic congressional delegation. U.S. Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester announced that TidalHealth Nanticoke will receive an award of $1,539,313 from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Provider Relief Fund through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The CARES Act created the Provider Relief Fund for rural acute care general hospitals and critical access hospitals, rural health clinics and community health centers located in rural areas. These smaller, rural hospitals faced great challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the delegation noted.
“TidalHealth Nanticoke is a vital part of the health and wellbeing of Western Sussex County residents, but like most health care providers, it took on an incredible financial burden with the pandemic,” Delaware’s congressional delegation said.
Ms. Short said TidalHealth is truly grateful the congressional delegation went to bat for the Seaford hospital, helping Nanticoke deal with the escalating cost of health care, magnified during the pandemic.
“It really is just the financial burden of COVID and just where health care is. We know what the consumer is seeing out there whether it’s gas or products you’re buying in a store. Multiply that tenfold for a hospital,” Ms. Short said. “The increase in prices is astronomical; the amount of supplies over what we would normally use because of what you need for COVID patients. So, all hospitals, and it’s not just rural hospitals there is concern. There are rural hospitals closing all over the country because of the cost and not being able to find the workforce. That’s what these funds are to help support that.”
In 2020, TidalHealth Nanticoke was left out of the first round of funding under the program. However, intervention by Sens. Carper and Coons and Rep. Blunt Rochester ensured that the hospital received its fair share. This year, Delaware’s congressional delegation wrote a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to ensure TidalHealth received its funding for 2021.
“When the funds initially came out last year for rural hospitals, we were not (included). We did work with the senators and congresswoman to help us get the funds back. They had to redefine the definition. It was delayed but we did get some funds last year,” said Ms. Short.
Solving the problem was a matter of updated geography.
“Really, the rural health care line was U.S. 113 east. So, any hospital east of 113 got rural funds – Beebe and Milford,” said Ms. Short. “It was really more the way they drew that rural corridor line, which is kind of bizarre because of all of those were probably the most rural. It was probably a mistake of a pen and the way that it was designed. They worked to make sure that it was correct so that when new funds were released this year. we wouldn’t have to jump through those hoops and that we would get it initially.”
