Covid Cases in Nursing Homes Are Clogging Up Hospitals

Dr. David Grabowski, Nexus Fellow and professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, stated last month in The Guardian that staff shortages in nursing homes and post-acute settings–mostly from Covid cases–are causing a problem for hospitals. Typically, hospitals will discharge patients to a stepped-down care setting when they are well enough.

“Things are condition critical today. [Hospitals] can’t find an empty or staffed bed out there,” said Grabowski. Hospitals can’t discharge patients who are healthy enough to move to a lower level of care because they can’t find any place to put them, according to Grabowski.

This in turn means that hospitals can’t admit new patients. “That’s a huge problem,” said Grabowski, “because they’re occupying a bed that would otherwise go to a new patient.”

Read the full article in The Guardian.

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