(Omaha, NE) -- Nebraska Medicine will be rolling back its Crisis Standards of Care plan next week.
On Friday, Nebraska Med issued a statement that starting on Monday, February 7th, they will gradually begin resuming surgeries and other procedures that were delayed during emergency operations after the plan was activated on January 13th. Nebraska Medicine says although they will no longer be in crisis mode the health system will return to contingency operations, which means changes still may be needed when it comes to clinical spaces and practices to meet the demand for patient care.
The move to the crisis plan on Thursday, January 13 followed a surge of cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 in the community, along with a high demand for hospital beds and a large number of staff absences due to staffers becoming ill, waiting for test results, or caring for ill family members. "Fortunately, the restrictions on surgeries and procedures allowed us to better control hospitalizations, prioritizing care for those who needed it most during that period," Nebraska Med said in their Friday press release.
The hospital says there has been an overall decrease in COVID-19 admissions in the past week, and the number of staff members in isolation and quarantine has decreased significantly. They say that combination of factors is allowing them to move out of crisis operations. "During the past three weeks, some patients have had appointments and procedures postponed. Our staff is contacting those patients directly and working to reschedule those appointments and procedures as quickly as possible. We thank the community for continued patience."
Following Nebraska Medicine's statement on Friday, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts announced that the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has revised its Directed Health Measure for the Nebraska Medical Center, which was issued on January 13th. Today, the Nebraska Medical Center announced it will cease operating under a crisis standard of care on Monday, February 7th. In response to Nebraska Med's news, the State revised its DHM to expire on Monday, February 7, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. to correspond with NMC ending crisis standards of care. Originally, the DHM had been scheduled to remain in place through February 13, 2022. The DHM suspended Class C, D, and E inpatient and outpatient surgeries (pre-scheduled, non-emergency medical surgeries) at NM after they began operating under a crisis standard of care.