Northern Mild Healthcare is an built-in system with 10 hospitals that stretch from Portland to Presque Isle: they embody crucial entry hospitals, tertiary care hospitals, neighborhood hospitals in addition to a habits well being hospital.
Like many establishments on this post-COVID period, rising prices has compelled administration to take a tough take a look at the providers on supply. Do you know the Northern Mild Most cancers Heart in Brewer, one of many largest and latest amenities in Maine, is now limiting new sufferers because of an absence of oncologists?
Do you know, as of Dec. 31, Northern Mild has discontinued its acute inpatient rehabilitation providers at Jap Maine Medical Heart, which have served sufferers with traumatic mind accidents or strokes in addition to restoration from surgical procedures or complicated medical situations? Moreover, people from Northern and Jap Maine should go to Portland or out of state to get these providers.
Do you know Northern Mild and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bangor have restricted beds to supply new sufferers because of extreme and protracted staffing shortages? Certainly, some days neither hospital has had an accessible mattress for a brand new affected person. A part of the issue includes shortages at nursing properties, which create a bottleneck; it may be troublesome to switch short-term hospital sufferers to beds at long-term care amenities because of lack of staffing.
Do you know Northern Mild is promoting all of its outreach laboratory enterprise to Quest Diagnostics?
The pandemic and the state’s response to it have value us severely. We knew 5 years in the past that the state was dealing with a scarcity of nurses. It was a disaster then, and it’s a catastrophe now. And but Gov. Mills proposed to make use of up virtually $160 million of Federal Medical Help Proportion (FMAP) funds that had been allotted and appropriated to reimburse providers meant for our most susceptible residents. This surplus shouldn’t be diverted to subsidize different functions.
In mild of what’s taking place to our hospitals and never taking place to our vital wait lists, is it actually a surplus?
This story is repeated all through New England. On Dec. 12, the Boston Globe printed an article headlined: “We don’t see the tip: In each day juggling act, overstretched hospitals attempt to keep providers.” Northern Maine shouldn’t be alone.
The price of touring per diem workers threatens our rural healthcare supply system. The chorus is widespread place: “We have now been unable to rent workers to serve our wait listing populations.” Sadly, it isn’t simply the wait listing populations which can be being underserved.
Many individuals are at the moment angling for a share of Maine’s surplus cash. As Maine’s legislators carry out triage, the 1000’s of people nonetheless on wait lists deserve prime precedence. By taking the majority of the excess cash and utilizing it responsibly to draw and retain workers, we will lastly serve our most susceptible residents ready for providers. These embody the mind injured, these recovering from surgical procedure, and the developmentally disabled.
You will need to keep in mind that caring for these people additionally helps their households. When a member of the family must stop their job to care full time for his or her beloved one, that household loses a lot wanted revenue, and the Maine economic system loses one other a part of its workforce.
Governing responsibly includes making troublesome selections that contain prioritizing our restricted sources. Aware of the adage that “a civilization is measured by the way it treats its weakest members,” we urge the Maine legislature to transform the misguided first invoice of the legislative session.
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