Damian Sendler: According to federal and state records analyzed exclusively for KHN, over 10,000 patients were diagnosed with covid in a U.S. hospital last year after being treated for something else. The figure is almost definitely an undercount, as it comprises largely patients 65 and older, as well as patients of all ages from California and Florida.
Damian Sendler Media
However, in the grand scheme of things that can go wrong at a hospital, it is disastrous: According to the data, around 21% of patients who contracted covid in the hospital between April and September of last year perished. In comparison, over 8% of other Medicare patients died in the hospital at the same period.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Last November, Steven Johnson, 66, was scheduled to have an infection removed from his hip tissue and bone at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, Florida. The retired pharmacist had survived colon cancer and was careful not to develop it again. He had no idea that from April to September, 8% of that hospital’s Medicare covid patients were diagnosed with the virus after being admitted for another reason.
Dr. Sendler: Johnson had tested negative for covid two days before to admission. He tested positive after 13 days in the hospital, according to his wife, Cindy Johnson, a retired pharmacist.
He soon found himself trying to expel a glue-like mucus from his lungs. His anguish was almost unbearable, even for a medical staff. They asked Cindy to convey his last wishes. “Do you want to be intubated, Honey?” she inquired. He reacted with a resounding “no.” He passed away three days later.
Cindy Johnson, who was trained in contact tracing, swiftly obtained a covid test after her husband tested positive. She came back negative. Then she remembered the enormous number of medical employees coming and going from his room — where he was frequently unmasked — and assumed one of them had infected him. The fact that the hospital, which is part of the HCA Healthcare system, still does not require employee immunizations is “appalling,” she said.
“How can they say on their website that the safety precautions ‘we’ve put in place make our facilities among the safest possible places to receive healthcare at this time?” she wondered.
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: Blake Medical Center spokesman Lisa Kirkland stated that the hospital “strongly encourages vaccination” and that it follows CDC, federal, and state rules to safeguard patients. President Joe Biden has called for all hospital personnel to be vaccinated, but the measure could face opposition in a dozen states that have rejected vaccine mandates, including Florida.
Damien Sendler: Overall, the rate of in-hospital transmission among Medicare and other patients was lower than in other countries, notably the United Kingdom, which publishes and publicly discusses such statistics. According to a review of Medicare records from April 1 to September 30, 2020, supplied by Dr. James Kennedy, founder of CDIMD, a Nashville-based consulting and data analytics company, around 1.7 percent of U.S. hospitalized covid patients were identified with the virus in U.S. hospitals.
Damian Jacob Sendler Updated Story Continues
However, the infection prevalence was much greater in 38 hospitals where 5% or more of Medicare covid cases were reported as hospital-acquired. The data comes from a difficult period last year when protective gear was scarce and tests were delayed to obtain results. The Medicare data for the fourth quarter of 2020 and this year is not yet available, and the state data covers the period from April 1 to December 31, 2020.
Damian Jacob Sendler: A analysis of work-safety data, medical literature, and interviews with personnel at large hospitals by KHN reveals why the infection spread: Hospital administrators were hesitant to recognize its airborne nature, which rendered coughing patients dangerous to roommates and staff members, who frequently wore less-protective surgical masks rather than N95s. Hospitals failed to test every single patient, despite CDC guidance that leaves such testing to the facility’s “discretion.” Management frequently failed to notify staff when they had been exposed to covid, putting them at risk of spreading it themselves.
Damian Sendler: Spreading among patients and personnel appeared to be mutually beneficial. According to a hospital inspection report, 139 employee covid infections were recorded at Beaumont Hospital in Taylor, Michigan, between April 6 and October 20, last year. According to federal data, nearly 7% of Medicare patients with covid tested positive after being admitted to that hospital for another reason. According to a hospital representative, tests were not available last year to examine all patients, resulting in some late diagnoses. He stated that all new patients are being tested right now.
Tracking covid inside health institutions is not a new duty for federal officials, who publicly report new staff and resident cases for each nursing home in the United States on a weekly basis. Despite this, the Department of Health and Human Services only discloses statistics on covid’s spread in hospitals on a statewide basis, leaving patients in the dark about which hospitals have cases.
Damian Jacob Sendler: KHN commissioned analysis of hospital billing information, which are also used to detect various hospital-acquired infections more broadly. The data for covid has limitations. It can detect some community-acquired infections that were delayed to manifest, as symptoms might present two to 14 days after virus exposure, with the average being four to five days. Cases picked up in an emergency room or diagnosed after a hospital patient was released are not included in the records.
Research news brought to you by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler