State activates crisis care standards at twenty hospitals, including Mat-Su Regional

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center is one of twenty hospitals for which the state activated Crisis Standards of Care over the weekend.

According to a statement on Saturday, Alaska Department of Health And Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum says the move was recommended by the state’s Crisis Care Committee.  That committee is made up of fifteen healthcare professionals from a variety of facilities and geographic areas within Alaska.  

The same statement acknowledges the interconnected nature of Alaska’s healthcare system.  Many rural communities lack the emergency and intensive care facilities present in urban areas.  In emergency situations, healthcare professionals in those communities will send a patient to a hospital in a larger city, but that has become more and more difficult as case counts and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have risen throughout September.

The state’s crisis standards include guidance on patient triage and allocating resources in an efficient manner. 

As of Tuesday, Mat-Su Regional Medical Center’s intensive care unit is listed at capacity with ten patients on ventilators.  About half of the total patients hospitalized in the Mat-Su have COVID-19.

While the state has issued triage guidance, Commissioner Crum says individual healthcare physicians are being left up to providers.