Becker's ASC Review

45 HEALTHCARE NEWS What 3 hospital leaders are seeing amid COVID-19 surges in Texas, Florida By Mackenzie Bean F lorida and Texas were among several states reporting record increases in COVID-19 cases during June as the virus surged in many parts of the South and West. Below, three hospital executives from these states discussed how their facilities were handling it, including which resources were still hard to secure and what they'd like the public and local health officials to know. All respondents shared their insights with Becker's via email June 17-19. Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length. ey are presented alphabetically. How would you describe what you are see- ing throughout your organization related to COVID-19 hospitalizations, discharges and deaths? George Ralls, MD, CMO of Orlando Health: e central Florida area began to see significant community spread of COVID-19 in mid-March. Orlando Health experienced a steady but manageable volume of COVID-19 patients that peaked April 8, of which 40 percent required a ventilator. e COVID-19 mortality during this surge was significant, accounting for more than 80 percent of the total COVID- 19-related deaths in our system. e second surge of COVID-19 patients has been a different experience. We have again seen a steady increase in COVID-19 hospitaliza- tions, mirroring the new case counts in the community that began in mid-May. Patients have not demonstrated the level of severity and mortality that we saw with the first surge. Eleven percent are being managed in an intensive care unit, and only 4 percent require a ventilator. Although patient characteristics such as age and comor- bidities may play a role, the differences in first and second surge outcomes are likely attributable to more effective clinical care, including respiratory management, and use of emerging therapies such as remdesivir and convalescent plasma. Roberta Schwartz, PhD, executive vice president, chief innovation officer and CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital: Houston Methodist is experiencing a second surge in hospitalizations aer the state was reopened. We are hopeful that individuals in Houston will rededicate themselves to masking, social distancing and hand hygiene so that we can, once again, flatten the curve in Houston. Mark Wallace, president and CEO of Texas Children's Hospital (Houston): Texas Children's Hospital, our employees, medical staff and leadership team are carefully monitoring the ongoing active transmission and increased number of COVID-19 cases in the greater Houston area and across the state of Texas. Our re- cent testing results are consistent with the number of positive cases regionally, and we, too, are seeing an increase in hospital- izations for patients who tested positive for COVID-19. We know COVID-19 continues to pose a risk, so, out of an abundance of caution, Texas Children's tests every patient admit- ted to our hospital regardless if they are experiencing symptoms. We are also testing many patients in our outpatient clinic locations. We are doing everything we can to identify any patient who may have CO- VID-19, and we take every positive result seriously. Texas Children's has been a leader in testing since the beginning of the pan- demic, and we have conducted more than 13,000 tests with our highly reliable testing system both for the virus and antibodies. e health and safety of the patients under our care, and that of our workforce, is our top priority and we will continue to deliver the best care possible. n Top 10 pharma companies by revenue By Maia Anderson The worldwide pharmaceutical market was worth about $1.3 trillion in 2019, according to market research cited by The Pharma Letter. The 10 largest pharmaceutical companies accounted for about a third of that, worth a collective $392.5 billion in revenue. The top 10 pharmaceutical companies, ranked by revenue: 1. Pfizer — $51.75 billion 2. Roche — $50 billion 3. Novartis — $47.45 billion 4. Merck — $46.84 billion 5. GlaxoSmithKline — $43.54 billion 6. Johnson & Johnson — $42.1 billion 7. AbbVie — $33.27 billion 8. Sanofi — $27.77 billion 9. Bristol-Myers Squibb — $26.15 billion 10. AstraZeneca — $23.57 billion n

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