Forty hospitals in New York state must stop certain elective procedures for at least two weeks after having met the state's threshold for "high risk regions" or low capacity facilities, according to a news release from the state health department.
The announcement came Jan. 8 after state officials updated their hospital determination.
On Nov. 26, Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order that allows the state to limit nonessential, nonurgent procedures for hospitals and health systems with limited capacity to ensure the organizations can address potential capacity constraints. The state defined limited capacity as below 10 percent staffed bed capacity, or as determined by the state health department based on regional and healthcare utilization factors. The state defined "high risk regions" as those with 90 percent or more beds occupied based on the previous seven-day average; or 85 percent to 90 percent occupancy rate based on the previous seven-day average and a new COVID-19 hospital admission rate for the region (previous seven-day average per 100,000 population) greater than 4 percent. State officials issued related guidance to hospitals Dec. 3, and the state's determination list has continually been updated.
"We will use every available tool to help ensure that hospitals can manage the COVID-19 winter surge," Acting State Health Commissioner Mary Bassett, MD, said in a news release. "I want to remind New Yorkers that getting vaccinated and boosted remain the best way to protect against serious illness and hospitalization from COVID-19. Vaccination also protects our hospital system. We cannot return to the early months of the pandemic when hospitals were overwhelmed."
The following 40 facilities must stop performing in-hospital elective surgery, and if their occupancy is above 95 percent, they must also stop elective surgeries at hospital-owned ambulatory surgical centers for at least two weeks, said state officials.
Mohawk Valley Region:
Faxton-St Luke's Healthcare St Luke's Division
Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital
St. Mary's Healthcare
A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital
Cobleskill Regional Hospital
Little Falls Hospital
Nathan Littauer Hospital
Rome Memorial Hospital
St. Elizabeth Medical Center
St. Mary's Healthcare - Amsterdam Memorial Campus
Finger Lakes Region:
F.F. Thompson Hospital
Geneva General Hospital
Newark-Wayne Community Hospital
Rochester General Hospital
The Unity Hospital of Rochester
United Memorial Medical Center North Street Campus
Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic
Highland Hospital
Medina Memorial Hospital
Nicholas H. Noyes Memorial Hospital
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital of Yates County
Strong Memorial Hospital
Wyoming County Community Hospital
Central New York Region:
Crouse Hospital
Oneida Health Hospital
Oswego Hospital
St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center
University Hospital SUNY Health Science Center
Upstate University Hospital at Community General
Auburn Community Hospital
Community Memorial Hospital
Guthrie Cortland Medical Center
Affected hospitals in other regions:
Brooks-TLC Hospital System
Mount St. Mary's Hospital and Health Center
Erie County Medical Center
Mercy Hospital of Buffalo
Sisters of Charity Hospital
The University of Vermont Health Network - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
Bertrand Chaffee Hospital
Olean General Hospital
State officials said procedures not covered by the governor's order are those for cancer (including diagnostic procedures for suspected cancer), neurosurgery, intractable pain, highly symptomatic patients, transplants, trauma, cardiac with symptoms, limb-threatening vascular procedures, dialysis vascular access and patients "at a clinically high risk of harm if their procedures are not completed."