Harvey's Impact on Hospitals

Hello for my first blog post I wanted to post about the recent situation that has burdened Houston, Texas. Hurricane Harvey has posted record numbers for rainfall with 49.2 inches of precipitation. Harvey has destroyed neighborhoods, schools, and even hospitals are at risk. Hospitals have had to cancel appointments and surgeries and at some hospitals have had to move patients out to receive care. Unfortunately for these hospitals the worst has yet to come because even after the precipitation goes down people who have lost homes and jobs avoid medical treatment or seek charitable care.

From a management stand point these hospitals are going to have to make some controversial decisions. One of the biggest decisions I feel that is going to have to be made is the care that is given after the precipitation has gone down. Food sources and drinking water have been contaminated, which leads to several problems such as waterborne disease like Cholera and typhoid, and foodborne diseases like Norovirus and E. Coli. If patients come in with cases of those sicknesses they can be taking beds away from others with cases that require a higher need for medical care. If there is a way for these hospitals to open clinics to allow victims of Harvey to come and receive care it could in turn help them down the road. But at the same time do they have it with in their budget and resources to take that preventive step.

Fox Business Article

Comments

  1. Mark BonicaSeptember 5, 2017 at 10:22 AM

    Timely first post. This is a huge public health issue as you point out. It will be interesting to follow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 10, 2017 at 9:08 AM

    It's very interesting to think about all the decisions that will have to be made. You point out that one controversial decision will be regarding charitable care. Many of the affected hospitals will have to incur costs associated with salaries for displaced employees, facility reconstruction/recovery, etc on top of charitable care for the community. Times like these reinforce the need to have a well-developed strategic plan and vision that can guide decision making during tumultuous times.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MelissaSeptember 17, 2017 at 7:36 AM

    Hi Ryan, my name is Melissa Rountree and I am a Healthcare Business Analyst/Associate for Knowesis, Inc. I am a retired Major in the Air Force and served in Healthcare Management for over 21 years. This was a very interesting first topic to choose and the situation in Houston caused by Harvey could lead to a huge Public Health Issue. I worked a couple of years in Medical Emergency Management and this topic fits right into that lane with my FEMA training of the National Disaster Management System. This disaster could be very costly in the long run as many of the areas that flooded rebuild, and as the Hospitals and clinics in the area recover and try to sustain operations in the current environment.

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