Mike Wolanin | The Republic An exterior view of Columbus Regional Hospital in Columbus, Ind., pictured, Tuesday, March 31, 2020.
With a deadline looming on Monday, two hospitals in the Columbus area have been racing over the past week to get hundreds of employees, contractors and other members of their workforce in compliance with a federal COVID-19 mandate for health care workers.
The federal mandate requires health care facilities that receive funds from the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs to ensure all employees are vaccinated, a measure that will affect millions of health care workers across the country, including at least 3,800 people in the Columbus area.
Currently, health care workers in Indiana who work at facilities that participate in the federal programs are required to receive their first dose or submit an exemption due to a sincerely held religious belief, certain medical conditions or a recent COVID-19 infection by Monday. The deadline to be fully vaccinated is March 15.
Health care facilities that do not comply with the federal requirement risk possible denials and termination from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, though the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says it plans to begin enforcement with encouragement rather than a heavy hand.
For its part, Columbus Regional Health started the week with 84% compliance among its 2,700-person workforce, meaning that some 430 people were not in compliance, the hospital said. CRH’s workforce includes about 2,200 employees, as well as a few hundred contractors, volunteers and non-employed providers who have medical rights to treat patients at the hospital.
But by Thursday morning, compliance had risen to just over 94%, indicating that about 160 people were still not in compliance, the hospital said.
“We’re progressing pretty well,” said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue. “…We are confident that we will be 100% compliant.”
Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, which has about 1,100 employees, “is nearing 100% compliance and on track to be fully compliant by the deadline,” said Schneck spokeswoman Stephanie Furlow.
“Team members’ compliance ensures that we continue to provide the safest working environment, as well as allows Schneck to remain a provider in the Medicare and Medicaid programs for our patients,” Furlow said.
The mandate, which seeks to reduce further strains on the health care system due to workers getting sick, takes effect nearly a month after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge brought by several Republican-led states, including Indiana, The Associated Press reported.
The legal challenge argued, in part, that the mandate exceeded federal executive powers and infringed on states’ rights to regulate public health matters, according to wire reports. However, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to allow the CMS vaccine mandate to go into effect.
In November, CRH and Schneck announced in a joint statement that they would comply with the federal mandate, in part because “the majority of patients served by Columbus Regional Health and Schneck Medical Center are covered by Medicare or Medicaid.”
“It is imperative our organizations remain a provider in these programs so we can continue to provide care to our communities,” the statement said.
CRH later paused its requirement as the legal challenge made its way through the federal court system before resuming the policy on Jan. 14, the day after the Supreme Court ruling.
The mandate, however, goes beyond hospitals and affects a wide swath of the health care industry, covering doctors, nurses, technicians, aides, nursing homes, home-health agencies and other providers that participate in the federal Medicare or Medicaid programs.
Nationwide, about 81% of nursing home staff members were fully vaccinated as of Jan. 23, according to the most recent data from CMS. However, many facilities in Bartholomew County were trending below the national level, with an average 75% of workers fully vaccinated.
Four Seasons Retirement Center reported that 95% of its staff were fully vaccinated as of the week ending Jan. 23, while Willow Crossing Health and Rehabilitation Center reported 61%. Columbus Transitional Care, which CRH owns, is currently reporting that 75% of its staff are vaccinated, up from 52% on Jan. 23, according to the CMS data.
But those figures do not include the number of workers who have received one dose of a vaccine or those filed for an exemption from the requirement due to religious beliefs, medical reasons or a recent COVID-19 infection.
CRH officials said that the hospital system is seeing more people file for exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine than for other vaccinations that are required as a term of employment, including influenza, tuberculosis and hepatitis.
The hospital system plans to work with employees who do not comply with the mandate and their managers on “the steps moving forward.”
“We understand that this is a tough personal decision for some members of our workforce,” DeClue said. “…This mandate is not optional for us as an organization. We must comply with it as a participant in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
