Downriver Today

Beaumont Health's CEO expressed frustration with the communications between Michigan-based hospitals as COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to quickly rise throughout the state. 

CEO John Fox said the state's hospital system needs better communication and data-sharing as COVID-19 patients are surging in hospitals, especially in the Detroit metropolitan area, according to BridgeMI.com. With all hospitals not regularly reporting crucial data during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can lead to patients waiting for two to three times more than normal in an emergency ward. 

“If somebody has to wait 12 hours in one of our ERs, but they can be seen within two hours, five miles away, I think we have a moral obligation to tell the patient,” Fox told Bridge Magazine.

Without real-time data, it can be hard to find other hospitals that have room to take patients when one hospital is experiencing a surge, Fox told the outlet. He also said it's up to the government to enforce communication between hospitals. 

“It’s time-sensitive. You don't get better by sitting in an ER waiting room or out in a parking garage,” Fox said in the report. “Part of the role of governments is to pull us together in times of crisis when we need a coordinated response."

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin told BridgeMI.com that the state was working to improve response rates after the MDHHS sent out an order requiring hospitals to update each other about crucial data. Sutfin said some hospitals were reporting data as normal and others weren't regularly filing their data. 

Not only are hospitals in the state lacking communication with each other, but they don't have enough protective gear and other equipment, especially with a COVID-19 peak on its way, according to Bridge Magazine. 

Several Michigan businesses are trying to help hospitals by donating needed materials such as gowns, masks and other supplies to help protect those on the front lines of the coronavirus. But one thing these businesses can't donate that Michigan hospitals desperately need is the staff to take care of all the COVID-19 patients, especially once the peak hits. 

“The state is very focused on how many beds you have available,” Fox told Bridge Magazine. “Our biggest limitation right now is not PPE. It’s not mattresses. It’s people."