Becker's Hospital Review

55 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY cracy of large national chains, West Virginia has more direct control of its vaccine flow to long-term care facilities, Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, told NPR. Connecticut Doses distributed to state: 250,775 Doses administered: 151,395 Percentage of distributed vaccines administered: 60.37 As Connecticut completed its first phase of vaccinations, the state was set to be- gin phase 1b the week of Jan. 15, Gov. Ned Lamont said Jan. 11, according to the Hartford Courant. Under phase 1a, most healthcare workers, nursing home staff and residents and medical first responders were offered a COVID-19 vaccine. Phase 1b includes people age 75 and older, essential front-line workers, and individuals and staff in congregate settings. Communication and coordination between the state and hospitals hasn't been a problem, omas Balcezak, MD, chief clinical officer of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Hospital, told e Wall Street Journal Jan. 9. Statewide, hospitals are working well to- gether too, with his facility receiving a couple hundred doses from another hospital, Dr. Balcezak said. Paul Kidwell, senior vice president of policy at the Connecticut Hospital Association, said hospitals laid the groundwork for a good relationship with the state at the start of the pandemic, sharing data and coordinating a response to the health emergency. e federal effort to vaccinate nursing home staff and residents led by CVS Health and Walgreens hasn't run into any major problems in Connecticut, said Chris Cox, senior vice president of pharmacy at CVS. On Jan. 8, Mr. Lamont announced that the state had finished vaccinating all of its nursing home residents. South Dakota Doses distributed to state: 83,500 Doses administered: 48,698 Percentage of distributed vaccines administered: 58.32 South Dakota broke from federal guidelines when defining its first vaccine priority group, adding law enforcement and corrections staff. e state also added people 65 and up, adults with at least two or more medical conditions and front-line workers in schools and colleges to its second priority group, according to KFF. Mike Wilde, MD, Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health's CMO, on Jan. 4 told local ABC affiliate KOTA-TV that the state's success in its vaccine distribution is "a testa- ment to the resources we have within our healthcare system, our EMR, being able to also identify populations that don't work at Sanford or Avera that also qualify for the vaccine," referring to Avera Health, a Sioux Falls-based health system. "As soon as that vaccine comes in, we're getting it given to people, whereas you see national news, a lot of times they say it's sitting in freezers somewhere. at's not happening in our state, whether that's Sanford, Monument out west or us with Avera. We're getting it done," David Basel, MD, an internal medicine physician/pediatrician at Avera Health, told KOTA-TV. He added that he attributes South Dakota's success to partnerships at the city and state level. "We're able to cut through the red tape, I think, so much more effectively than a lot of states are. We just get it done," Dr. Basel said. n Missouri man dies in hospital parking lot after being repeatedly denied care, family claims By Gabrielle Masson D avid Bell died in the parking lot of Barnes-Jewish St. Peter's (Mo.) Hos- pital during his third attempt to re- ceive care, his wife told CBS affiliate KMOV. Sadie Bell told KMOV she took her husband to the emergency room twice for severe chest pain the week of Jan. 8. Both times, hospital staff prescribed him ibuprofen but did not admit Mr. Bell, according to Ms. Bell. Mr. Bell, director for Central County Fire, was taken to the same hospital after having difficulty breathing at work for a third time. When Ms. Bell arrived to Barnes-Jewish St. Peter's Hospital, she said Mr. Bell was sitting outside in a wheelchair. She told KMOV that she asked the hospital to run tests and ad- mit him, but they declined. "He said, 'Ma'am he's already been here twice for the same thing and we've already diagnosed him,'" Ms. Bell told KMOV. She said her husband died before she could take him to a different hospital. Ms. Bell believes her husband was dis- missed by physicians and staff, according to KMOV. "Our thoughts are with the family after this loss, as well as with the entire Central Coun- ty Fire & Rescue team," a hospital spokes- person told Becker's Hospital Review in an email. "We cannot provide further comment due to patient privacy laws."n

• Cover