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Leading healthcare associations, led by the largest groups representing doctors and nurses, on Monday called for making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory as infection and hospitalization rates climbed in every state, reaching levels not seen since the pandemic’s winter peak.

“Vaccination is the primary way to put the pandemic behind us and avoid the return of stringent public health measures,” wrote the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association, among other groups, in 

Hours later, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an 

 requiring healthcare workers and state employees to show proof of vaccination or wear masks and undergo regular testing. Following soon after were vaccine orders from New York City and the 

 with the fastest-rising infection rates have moved to bar vaccine and mask mandates.

The healthcare coalition deemed their call to action the “logical fulfilment of the ethical commitment of all healthcare workers,” which would protect patients and put their needs first. The 57 groups said vaccinations should be mandatory among workers across healthcare, including long-term care, where older, sick Americans were among those who saw the highest mortality rates in the early days of the pandemic.

Vaccine mandates have been upheld by the courts. Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas dismissed 117 workers in June for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations; they sued, but a federal court ruled in favor of the hospital. The largest health system in New Jersey, RWJBarnabasHealth, fired six supervisors for refusing to get vaccinated, and other health systems in the state followed with their own mandates.

Public health leaders and policy makers have raised alarms in recent days as the fast-spreading delta variant has caused COVID-19 cases 

 during July. Infection and mortality rates are highest in Southern states and counties where vaccination rates are below 40%, including Southwest Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

According to the CDC, the delta variant is responsible for 83% of new infections nationwide.

In their statement, the AMA-led coalition noted that many healthcare organizations already require proof of vaccination for 

, and that being vaccinated protects children who can't get shots and those with compromised immune systems.

Long-term care facilities present a vexing problem: some in the industry fear a mandate could make it even harder to deal with staffing shortages that predate the pandemic. 

 reports that while 80% of the residents are vaccinated, only about 59% of nursing home staff are. The healthcare groups addressed this issue in their statement:

“Providers that have required staff vaccinations have reported high vaccine acceptance by previously hesitant care professionals, and many providers report that when staff vaccination rates are high, they become providers of choice in their communities” the organization Leading Age said in a statement.

The Biden administration is reluctant to call for a vaccine mandate for nursing homes, the AP reported. However, a provision of a 

 asks for input on how to publicize vaccination rates of hospital outpatient staff and those in ambulatory surgical centers.

Allison Inserro contributed to this report.

Articles

As infections and hospitalizations rise across the country, groups led by the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association called for mandatory vaccinations of staff.





Make COVID-19 Vaccinations Mandatory for Health Workers, Groups Say

 chief executive officer of Lutheran Health Network, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Teffeteller most recently served as senior vice president and regional operating officer for AMITA Health’s Chicago Metro Regional and president and CEO of AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center Chicago. While in Chicago, Teffeteller expanded an ambulatory care network and led capital planning and facility development. At Lutheran Health, his immediate priorities will include the opening of Lutheran Downtown Hospital and joint venture with Acadia Healthcare on a behavioral health hospital. Teffeteller will report to Mark Medley, who will have oversight for Community Health Systems-affiliated hospitals including Lutheran Health Network and Northwest Health in northwest Indiana. Teffeteller’s appointment becomes effective August 16, 2021.

Following the announcement of the retirement of Joann Anderson, who had served as CEO for 14 years, the UNC Health Southeastern Board of Trustees have named 

 as her successor. Ellington will start October 11, and Anderson will continue in an advisory role through December 31.

UNC Health Southeastern has 30 primary and specialty care clinics across four counties, a freestanding ambulatory surgery center and clinic facility, and the Southeastern Health Mall, which provides outpatient services. Previously known as Southeastern Health, the health system and UNC Health announced completion of a 

 (MSA) in December 2020, which included the name change that took effect January 1, 2021.

Ellington, whose current role is president of UNC Health Care Network Hospitals, became known to the UNC Health Southeastern board during the development of the MSA.

 his retirement as CEO of Maury Regional Health, based in Columbia, Tennessee. The MRH Board of Trustees will conduct a national search for a new CEO, according to a statement from the health system. Watson became CEO in 2012 following his promotion from chief operating officer. During Watson’s tenure, the health system has received national recognition for quality and safety, including being named a 15 Top Health System six times since 2011. Watson told the Maury County Commission that the pandemic and personal events had caused his family to “change our focus on what is important,” according to 

, and that he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren on his family’s 100-acre farm in East Tennessee.

MED MOVES: New Leaders for Lutheran Health Network, UNC Health Southeastern

Virual clinic names Shah chief medical officer.

 Maven, the largest virtual clinic for women's and family health, 

 Neel Shah, MD, MPP, FACOG, chief medical officer on July 1. Shah, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, is the founding director of Adriade Labs, an innovation venture between Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Shah has launched a series of entrepreneurial ventures that seek to address disparities in healthcare, focusing on costs and wellbeing of mothers. Shah will bring unique insights into Maven’s 24/7 model that seeks to reduce unnecessary C-sections and emergency department visits and improve clinical outcomes.

New roles for Gilliam, Combs at Mon Health. 

The Morgantown, W. Va.-based health system 

 Mark Gilliam, previously chief administrative officer, to senior vice president of Mon Health System. Mark Combs, is the systems new chief information officer.

Gilliam was the system’s first CIO, managing all aspects of information technology, before transitioning to the role of CAO in 2018. He previously held CIO positions in health systems in Tennessee, where he was named CIO of the Year by the Nashville Business Journal and Disrupter of the Year by the Tennessee Healthcare Information and Managements Systems Society. Combs, who had been associate CIO since January 2021, had held CIO positions for several organizations, including West Virginia University Medicine.

Ohio Health has announced that Mark Seckinger will retire in 2022 as CEO of O’Bleness Hospital, where he has served since 2015. He was president of OhioHealth Hardin Memorial Hospital for 14 years prior to taking the leadership role at O’Bleness, which had just become part of the of the OhioHealth system in 2014. He oversaw the merger of the Athens Medical Associates and University Medical Associates physician practice groups, which resulted in the creation of OhioHealth Physician Group Heritage College. This week, O’Bleness Hospital 

 of serving the community in Southeast Ohio.

Shah will bring unique insights into Maven’s 24/7 model that seeks to reduce unnecessary C-sections and emergency department visits and improve clinical outcomes.

MED MOVES: Maven Taps Neel Shah, MD, as CMO; W.Va.’s Mon Health Elevates Two Executives

From left, RWJ Barnabas Health's Barry Ostrowsky, Sheryl and Jack Morris, Rutgers CINJ Director Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy led a group of pollical, academic, and healthcare leaders in New Brunswick, N.J., Thursday to break ground on what will become the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, a $750 million, 510,000 square-foot-structure that will be the new home of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Built in partnership with RWJBarnabas Health and the New Brunswick Development Corporation, the facility is being designed with ease of patient access in mind, putting imaging and other diagnostic tests, treatment, follow-up, education, and survivorship care all in one location. The facility is adjacent to existing cancer center facilities and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Located in the center of New Jersey, the healthcare complex is a few blocks from a stop on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. New Brunswick Mayor Jim Cahill told a gathering of several hundred guests that the new facility will be able to accommodate an additional 20,000 cancer care visits each year when it is completed in 2024.

John Stewart, MD, has been named to a key cancer leadership role in the Southeast, as health system leaders of Louisiana State University Health New Orleans/Louisiana Children’s Medical Center named him to lead the Cancer Center on June 9. Stewart will also serve as a professor of surgery for the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. He is a board-certified surgical oncologist who previously was a University of Illinois presidential scholar and professor of surgery in the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, where he served as deputy director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center, and physician executive for oncology sciences at the University of Illinois Health. Louisiana has the fifth-highest cancer 

 in the country, and rates are especially high among men. Historically high levels of poverty and environmental hazards contribute to elevated cancer rates, but Louisiana has implemented Medicaid expansion to bring cancer screening to larger numbers of residents.

A patient-centered cancer center for Rutgers; new leadership for cancer care in New Orleans.

CHE Staff

Articles

Make COVID-19 Vaccinations Mandatory for Health Workers, Groups Say

MED MOVES: New Leaders for Lutheran Health Network, UNC Health Southeastern

MED MOVES: Maven Taps Neel Shah, MD, as CMO; W.Va.’s Mon Health Elevates Two Executives

MED MOVES: Groundbreaking at Rutgers CINJ, New Cancer Center Director at LSU Health New Orleans/LCMC