Hospitals see high compliance for vax requirement

With a minimal loss of employees resulting from the federal vaccine mandate for health care workers, local hospitals are closing the gap on full compliance with the requirement.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 upheld the Biden administration’s order that all health care workers at facilities that receive compensation from Medicare and Medicaid be fully vaccinated by March 15 or face sanctions or the loss of federal reimbursements. Qualified exemptions for medical or religious reasons are acceptable, the court said.

“Since COVID-19 vaccines first became available, we have been strongly encouraging our employees and providers to get vaccinated,” said Samantha Skinner, spokeswoman for St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston.

“We continue to feel very strongly that the vaccine is our best defense against the virus. Although the implementation of the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates from (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) was temporarily on hold until the Supreme Court’s ruling last week, we are pleased that nearly all our team members are already compliant. We will work with our remaining staff members to ensure they either receive the COVID-19 vaccine or submit an appropriate exemption by the deadline.”

Skinner added that the hospital “takes seriously our responsibility to fulfill our regulatory and compliance obligations. ... Our ability to accept Medicare and Medicaid is critical to the many patients we serve, the overall health of our community and the financial stability of our organization.”

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, health care providers in 24 states must ensure workers have had at least one COVID-19 vaccination by Feb. 14. They must be fully vaccinated by March 15.

For nursing homes, home health agencies and hospice providers, the penalties for failing to comply with the deadlines could include fines, denial of payment for new admissions and ending participation in the Medicare and Medicaid agreement.

The sole remedy for hospitals and other acute care providers is the ending of participation in Medicare and Medicaid, a crucial lifeline for providers.

Peter Mundt, spokesman for Gritman Medical Center in Moscow, said the hospital has had its own vaccine mandate in force for many weeks, even during the short period when the federal mandate was stayed by the Supreme Court for review.

Currently, Mundt said 91% of the hospital’s workforce has either started or completed the vaccination regimen. Nine percent of employees were approved for qualified exemptions, including religious or medical reasons.

Only two employees chose to leave the organization rather than comply with the mandate, Mundt said.

Although Gritman, like many hospitals, is continuing to recruit and hire new employees for open positions, it is fully staffed at this time, he added.

Abner King, chief executive officer for Syringa General Hospital in Grangeville, said, so far the hospital has lost only three employees out of a total of 204 because of the vaccine mandate. King said he expects the hospital to be fully compliant by the deadlines.

“We currently have adequate staffing,” King said, “but recruiting has definitely become more challenging over the last year. Employees out with illness or quarantine also create temporary staffing challenges in various departments.”

Understaffing has also been a continuing problem at St. Mary’s Health in Cottonwood and Clearwater Health in Orofino since before the vaccine mandate, said Lenne Bonner, CEO of both hospitals.

“We did go through with the vaccine mandate,” Bonner said. “All exemptions submitted were reviewed by a multi-disciplinary committee at Kootenai Health. We did lose some employees who didn’t want to fill out an exemption or get the vaccine but it was less than five employees across both of our organizations. We are still very short-staffed in nursing but not due to the vaccine mandate.”

Washington was under a state-imposed vaccine mandate in October and most organizations had already met their deadlines for health care workers before the federal mandate took effect.

Rebecca Mann, spokeswoman for Tri-State Memorial Hospital in Clarkston, said the hospital received eight resignations from employees that were tied to the Washington State COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Currently the hospital has 34 employees who have tested positive for the coronavirus, five who are pending and nine temporarily off work because of exposure.

“We are fully capable and prepared to take care of our patients, even with the (employee) shortages,” Mann said. “But the shortage of employees due to COVID-19 is putting a strain on the health care system. It is important that our community continues to social distance, wear masks and frequently wash their hands to alleviate further strain on hospitals in our region.”

Alison Weigley, spokeswoman for Pullman Regional Hospital, said the staff in Pullman was 100% compliant with the vaccine mandate in October. Before that, she said, the hospital had an optional vaccine challenge and by April, 75% of the staff had received vaccines.

Only a few employees left the workforce at the Pullman hospital because of the mandate, she added.

Long-term care facilities in north central Idaho saw a slight uptick in COVID-19 infections over the past week.

According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Royal Plaza, the State Veterans Home, Generations, Brookdale, Advanced Health Care and Transitional Care of Cascadia, all of Lewiston, saw increases of two to 19 new infections from Jan. 14 to Friday.

Clearwater Health and Rehabilitation and Brookside Landing, both of Orofino, also saw slight increases in infections.

Life Care Center, Prestige Orchards, both of Lewiston; Grangeville Health and Rehabilitation and Meadowlark Homes, both of Grangeville; and Lakeside Assisted Living, of Winchester, all had two to three new infections Friday after having previously resolved outbreaks.

Public Health – Idaho North Central District added 360 new COVID-19 cases Friday — the largest single-day total of the pandemic.

Health officials also announced one coronavirus death, a Lewis County man in his 60s.

The infections included 10 in Lewis County; 23 in Clearwater County; 33 in Idaho County; 143 in Latah County; and 151 in Nez Perce County.

Whitman County reported 184 new cases. Asotin County had 57 new cases for a 14-day count of 532 and Garfield County did not update its website.

The eight-county region added 2,169 cases this week.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.