States are scrapping their Covid-19 public health emergency declarations despite cases trending upward, threatening hospitals’ ability to respond to surges promptly.
Hospitals across the U.S. face greater liability for patient care choices they may make without proper supplies or staffing as the declarations—and the shields attached to them—fall by the wayside.
Many facilities experiencing a regional influx of Covid-19 patients can no longer call in practitioners licensed in other states as the declarations allowed.
“It’s the same pandemic. It’s the same conditions. But we are fighting it with different legal tools” that leave hospitals vulnerable, said James Hodge, director of ...