Becker's Hospital Review

34 POPULATION HEALTH 34 CEO / STRATEGY 'Don't get distracted' and other words of advice from healthcare execs on COVID-19 vaccine rollouts By Kelly Gooch A s they navigate the COVID-19 vac- cine rollout, hospital and health system executives must consider the best paths for their organization in terms of scheduling appointments, working with state officials on distribution and administering the shots. Below, executives from four health systems nationwide share the best advice they've re- ceived about vaccination efforts. Editor's note: Responses have been edited light- ly for clarity and style. Sam Bagchi, MD. Executive Vice Presi- dent and Chief Clinical Officer of Christus Health (Irving, Texas): Part of our DNA at Christus Health is taking the things we do to be highly reliable and bringing them forward in our vaccine program. at means we're thinking about not wasting doses, but it also means we want to create a consistent and re- liable experience for patients and people in general in our vaccine clinics. We've had to think about technology, scheduling and the logistics around vaccine hubs. e best advice I would say is go back to your core operating principles for the work you do every day and then apply them to what you're trying to do with vaccine programs. at sounds obvious, but when these types of challenges are coming at you le and right, it sometimes feels like these are those one-off initiatives or they're happening in a parallel world to everything else you must do. And we've tried to make this a core part of our clin- ical operations, and I think that's helped us. We've had a strategic challenge over the last year to expand the lives touched by Christus Health, and our work around that challenge allowed us to think bigger about vaccinations and think strategically about how we can af- fect the community in ways that go beyond the walls of the hospital. Susan Casey Bleasdale, MD. Interim Chief Quality Officer of University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics (Chicago): The best advice is don't get distracted. The overall goal of our program has been to get vaccine out quickly and safely. There have been several points along the way where there is discussion and debate about prior- ities and order of offering. We have found that if we focus on the broad categories out- lined by CDC and the Chicago Department of Health, we can quickly offer vaccine to many people. If we are not distracted by debate, we can focus on operations that al- low us to move quickly through tiers and phases and offer more vaccine. Story continues on page 35 Dignity Health Northridge Hospital apologizes for vaccinating educators ahead of county's schedule By Kelly Gooch D ignity Health Northridge Hospital is expressing re- gret for offering COVID-19 vaccines to educators before Los Angeles County was at that point for shot prioritization, and said it continues to support inocula- tion efforts for those who are eligible. The hospital has been vaccinating people since Decem- ber, using doses provided by the state. Initially, the hospital inoculated its front-line healthcare workers and then moved to vaccinate residents aged 65 and older, Northridge said in a statement shared with Becker's Feb. 12. After that, it prepared to vaccinate essen- tial workers who would be next in line under the county's vaccine distribution phase. Northridge said it believed vac- cination of this group would begin Feb. 1. The hospital said it invited employees and teachers at sev- eral public and private schools in the area, including day care centers, and law enforcement agencies, to get a shot at the hospital Feb. 2. Fourteen schools and day cares re- sponded, and 164 teachers and staff members received the vaccine. But at the time, the county was only offering vaccines to healthcare workers, long-term facility residents and res- idents age 65 and older. Therefore, county officials told Becker's Feb. 15 that they reported the incident to the state and informed the hospital that it had violated the county's tier system. "We realize that it was premature to schedule these ap- pointments for individuals in group 1B before the coun- ty reached that point in its prioritization," said Northridge. "When we were made aware that the county would not move on to vaccinate this group, we should have canceled these appointments. We regret that these vaccinations did not align with the county's vaccine prioritization approach." The county said it has been assured that the violation won't be repeated, and the hospital said it will continue to work with the county to vaccinate eligible people. "Northridge Hospital remains committed to continuing to support vaccination efforts and do our part to end the COVID crisis," the hospital said. n

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