‘This discovery is a little disturbing’: Centura Health data reports miss 2,500 COVID-19 hospitalizations since April 

Centennial, Colo.-based Centura Health failed to report almost 2,500 COVID-19 hospitalizations dating back to last April because of a system coding issue, according to a Jan. 8 The Journal report. 

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Five details: 

1. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed on Jan. 5 that Centura failed to report 2,450 COVID-19 hospitalizations, most of which happened during October, November and December while cases spiked in the state. 

2. Durango, Colo., Mayor Dean Brookie expressed his concern to the publication: “It’s disturbing the lack of reporting was during a critical period of time,” he said. “I want to trust our healthcare providers, but this discovery is a little disturbing.”

3. The Colorado health department said that the missed reporting was the result of “a quality control system established by local public health agencies and the state.” The system revealed that some of Centura’s hospitalizations weren’t making it into the COVID Patient Hospitalization Surveillance because of certain hospital coding issues, which have since been fixed. 

4. The missing data reports account for almost 13 percent of the state’s 19,000 hospitalizations. 

5. A Centura Health spokesperson called the coding issue an “oversight” and said once the system learned of the issue, it quickly resolved it. 

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