Responding to the Continued COVID-19 Cases and Recent Surge, Health Systems Face Challenges and Respond with Solutions to Continue to Serve their Patients and Communities.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to rage on with surges across the nation, health systems are faced with similar challenges from the height of the crisis in the spring. As the cases subsided during the summer months, health systems were able to ramp back up to mostly “normal” operations, only to be faced with a fall filled with rising COVID-19 cases. On the bright side, hospitals have had time to prepare, knowing potentially they may have had to face again.

A&M’s Managing Director, Larry Kaiser, MD, FACS, talked with Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, Robert Barish, MD, and Tony Reed, MD, EVP & Chief Medical Officer of Temple University Health System, to hear the challenges they have faced, how they prepared for this current surge in cases and other solutions they have implemented to deal with the crisis in their health systems. With a vaccine on the horizon in just days, they also share their strategic plans to distribute the vaccine to their staff, who continue to serve their patients and communities in the fight against COVID-19.

Topics of discussion will also touch upon:

• Vaccine distribution
• Clinical and Patient care
• Health System Staffing
• Financial impact of the crisis on health systems