For several weeks, Northern Arizona Healthcare has been a focus of concern among Sedona residents, ever since sources suggested that the hospital would be limiting the services offered at its Sedona Emergency Department.
Calls to NAH administrators and board members finally prompted a letter written by NAH CEO Flo Spyrow.
“As part of this continual analysis, Northern Arizona Healthcare is also assessing whether the Sedona ED is truly providing the right level of care at the right cost to residents,” Spyrow wrote in her letter dated May 22, causing some residents to fear that the Emergency Department would be ending many of its medical services in Sedona.
On a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday June, 4, NAH administrators sought to clarify the hospital system’s plans for Sedona, though they stressed that NAH is still in the analysis phase and has not developed a full concrete plan of what will happen in the area.
“One of the things that we are doing is taking a look to see if we are providing the right care, at the right time, at the right cost, in the right outcome for the residents of Sedona,” Verde Valley Medical Center Chief Administrative Officer Ron Haase said. “Contrary to what has been in various publications, we have no interest and we do not intend to leave Sedona.
“Might we change the model of care? Yes. But there’s more analysis to be done on that.”
Haase said that the changes would not be a reduction in care as much as it would be a refocus on the types of care that are most used in the area.
“What we’re taking a look at first and foremost is what kinds of services we offer that have been demanded by public over the last couple of years,” Haase said. “I will tell you that the vast majority of the services we have provided are in the urgent care area, and that analysis continues. The only thing that we can see being different perhaps, that we might change, is having it not be an emergency department, and instead an immediate care, which would provide the same level of services we are currently providing.
“Frankly right now, most of the emergent vehicles in and around the area take truly emergent patients directly to the hospital, instead of stopping at the ED, where we are unable to provide advanced life support and care services for those people.
“Right now I do not see a reduction in staff. We’re just not there.”
NAH did announce that they had hired a new oncologist for breast cancer services and were in the process of hiring a new breast surgeon, in the hopes of implementing new imaging services for end-to-end breast cancer treatment in the Sedona area.
“We have been in the Sedona market for 26 years and we intend to continue to serve the health care needs of Sedona communities, and to partner with you in achieving the optimal health and wellness of all community members,” Spyrow said on the press call. “We are, as Ron says, looking at how the community is utilizing our services and what services they’re requesting that be added or expanded there, and so we’re currently evaluating that in order to continue to meet the healthcare needs of the Sedona community.”
In a press release issued Tuesday, June 2, NAH announced that it had restructured some of its administration, affecting 20 staffers. NAH did not provide any information about who they were nor what positions they held, nor how much their terminations or retirements may save NAH.
Dick Sharp, NAH chief human resources officer, stated in the read, “The valued colleagues who were affected by this restructure have received offers of severance, outplacement/transition services, and COBRA subsidies.”
“While the financial situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, NAH is continuously working to combat pandemic-related layoffs,” NAH stated in the press release. “The organization has taken significant and proactive steps by prioritizing the reassignment of front-line employees with reduced work to other duties; placing a hold on ordering non-medical and non-essential supplies; and reducing merit increases and performance-based incentives.”
“It is my belief that the health care industry will be struggling with the impact of COVID-19 well into 2021,” said Cliff Loader, Northern Arizona Healthcare’s chief financial officer. “Though we’ve received funding through the CARES Act and from the State of Arizona to assist us, which has stabilized our cash in the short term, the situation is ongoing. Even though we are resuming medically necessary procedures on a limited basis, it is at a slow pace.” he continued.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey prohibited non-emergency surgeries in April to prepare for a possible surge in COVID-19 cases. The surge never happened, and Ducey allowed surgeries to resume May 1.
Non-emergency surgeries generate a significant amount of revenue for most hospitals. While many hospitals in Arizona resumed surgeries immediately after Ducey ended his ban, NAH did not restart them until Monday, May 25, four weeks later.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 282-7795 or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
