With hundreds of staff quitting rather than getting the COVID vaccine, some hospital CEOs are saying it’s far riskier to operate short-staffed than to enforce vaccine mandates for all staff.
Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic, CEO and president of Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. Cliff Megerian, CEO of University Hospitals, spoke at a forum and expressed concern that some health care workers would rather quit or be fired than get inoculated. “Hospitals are already understaffed and losing health care employees during a public health crisis would jeopardize the Clinic's ability to provide care,” Mihaljevic said.
Bloomberg recently reported that Ballad Health had decided against implementing a vaccine mandate after learning that it might cause as many as 15% of nurses — or 900 employees — to resign. "It's a cynical question, but what gets us to losing the higher amount of staff?" said Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health, adding that he would hire 600 nurses immediately if they were available.
According to the report, about 80% of caregivers at Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals have been vaccinated, and 50% of Ballad's front-line nurses and 97% of its physicians are vaccinated.
SOURCES:
Beckers Hospital Review, August 27, 2021
Bloomberg, August 26, 2021