Healthcare CEO: ‘Hospitals in Every Corner of the Country Might Close for Good’ – Live COVID-19 News

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The cancellation of “elective” surgeries and medical procedures has caused large numbers of healthcare workers, particularly in areas with low coronavirus numbers, to lose their jobs or be furloughed.

There are “a historic number of empty beds in [hospital] systems left untouched by the pandemic,” Rick Jackson, the CEO of the third-largest healthcare staffing company in the United States, wrote for Newsweek.

“Outpatient services account for half of all hospital revenue, which means hospitals are now making, and spending, half what they were this time last year,” he explained. “It’s not surprising, then, that the industry shed a record 43,000 health care workers in the first month of this crisis. Experts expect equal or greater layoffs this month, when the sustained forbearance has made revenue even more urgent.”

“Even before this crisis, one in four rural hospitals were vulnerable to closure. Now, many of these rural systems have more empty beds than ever before.”  …

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