SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Attorneys representing Springfield Hospital in bankruptcy proceedings are seeking “emergency and expedited relief” as the hospital’s finances are affected for the worse by the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The attorneys, with the Maine-based firm Murray, Plumb & Murray, asked the court to schedule a status conference by phone to develop an approach “that is efficient and fair” to all the parties involved.
“Creditors should expect to see reductions in revenue from declines in elective procedures and increased spending as the hospital focuses on responding to the crisis and providing quality care to sick patients pursuant to its mission and its ethical obligation as an acute care facility,” the hospital’s filing on Wednesday said.
Springfield Hospital and Springfield Medical Care Systems — an associated, federally qualified health center — entered bankruptcy in June, aiming to craft plans to deal with a total of $20 million of debt. In addition to the 25-bed Springfield Hospital, the organization also operates outpatient clinics in the Vermont communities of Springfield, Chester, Ludlow, Bellows Falls and Londonderry, and in Charlestown, N.H.
The health system’s leaders had been working to develop those plans when like hospitals across the country and around the world, Springfield was forced to alter the way it does business. At least one positive case was found through testing at Springfield Hospital, in a New York man, Vermont health officials have said.
Springfield’s changes in recent days to respond to COVID-19 have included rescheduling non-essential elective surgeries, allowing teleworking for some staff, closing its adult day care program, opening the child care program to the children of critical staff at no cost, converting a section of the emergency department to a testing center, and adding security personnel to screen hospital visitors.
The health system has temporarily closed Chester (Vt.) Dental Center, while it’s Ludlow (Vt.) dental practice is open only for urgent and emergency care, according to Wednesday’s filing. The system’s Ludlow Health Center has caregivers out on isolation, and other caregivers are using protective equipment.
At Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, which also has posted operating losses in recent years, hospital leaders “have a mechanism in place to track financial impacts of COVID-19,” said spokeswoman Maryellen Apelquist.
While it’s too soon to tell what the cost of COVID-19 response will be, “of course we all know the impact will be dramatic,” Valley Regional Hospital interim CEO Deanna Howard said in a Thursday email. Howard on Wednesday announced her hospital had its first inpatient test positive for COVID-19.
Vermont regulators said they are trying to give hospitals time to respond to the crisis, before they ask for an accounting of what it will cost.
“We are doing our best to make sure that the state Legislature understands what’s facing our health care system and hospitals,” said Susan Barrett, executive director of the Green Mountain Care Board, which regulates Vermont hospitals.
New London Hospital CEO Tom Manion on Wednesday announced that it would be limiting COVID-19 testing to inpatients and those who have direct contact with patients such as doctors, nurses and first responders. The move is due to the shortage of testing and treatment supplies, he said in a community message posted to Facebook.
In addition, New London like many other hospitals has restricted visitors to only those visiting patients at the end of life. The hospital also is restricting the number of adults that can accompany child patients to one.
Gifford Medical Center is discouraging expectant mothers from elective inductions and urging them to spend as much of their early labor at home as possible, in order to spend less time at the hospital, according to a Wednesday web post.
The Randolph hospital’s obstetrics team also is adjusting the prenatal visit schedule to alternate in-person visits with telephone visits for women with low-risk pregnancies. They still want women with acute health needs to come into the clinic, but urged those without urgent needs to postpone visits or to call in by phone.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
