Health officials have reversed course and won’t be identifying the hospitals they have designated as Ebola facilities due to fears of stigmatizing the medical centers.
Officials said last week that they had designated four Oahu hospitals whose staff will receive intensive training to handle the disease that has killed thousands in West Africa.
All of the hospitals, which the state asked to voluntarily step up to the plate, are agreeing to receive higher-level infectious disease training that will include practice drills and an appointed team of specially trained staff members, the Department of Health said at a news conference Tuesday.
The DOH is working with the hospital group Healthcare Association of Hawaii on specialized training and an inspection process for a "top tier of hospitals that are prepared to provide longer term care for an (Ebola) patient if necessary."
"Pre-designating hospitals doesn’t do them a service," said Toby Clairmont, director of emergency services for the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. "When you do that you’re not rewarding the hospital for preparing. That hospital now invested time and money, and we reward them by putting a scarlet letter on their shirt. It isn’t a positive thing."
The Queen’s Medical Center treated a patient as a possible Ebola case several weeks ago, though the Health Department quickly ruled out the virus. The hospital, which has never confirmed it was caring for the patient, took a hit on revenue following media reports, according to the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. A spokesman for Queen’s wouldn’t comment.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, which handled the first Ebola case diagnosed in the United States, has seen emergency room visits plummet by more than 50 percent since Oct. 1, after caring for several people who contracted the disease, according to a report by CNBC. That resulted in an $8.1 million, or 25 percent, drop in revenue, the report said.
The DOH will begin monitoring travelers from the three West African countries hard hit by the disease (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia) following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Health Department will contact people daily who have been identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to have been to any of those countries within the 21-day incubation period for the disease.
"If there is an ill person that is identified, we would work very closely from Day One to determine their exposure, potential contacts and travel history," said state epidemiologist Sarah Park. "Depending upon their risk factors, we would then decide what level of monitoring or restriction of movement may or may not be necessary."
There is a growing debate in the United States about whether mandatory quarantines for health care workers returning to the U.S. from West Africa are the best way to stop the spread of the disease at home. Many have argued that the restrictions imposed by states such as New York, New Jersey and Illinois will discourage U.S. health care workers from volunteering in West Africa.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was among the first to announce mandatory 21-day quarantines for anyone who had contact with possibly infected people, a measure criticized by the White House.
In addition, the Health Department said it is requesting permission from the CDC to conduct laboratory testing for Ebola locally. The state lab would take two specimens from possible Ebola patients and send them to a laboratory in Los Angeles and to the CDC in Atlanta for confirmation.
"Because of Hawaii’s distance from national resources, there are benefits to having this capacity within our state," the DOH said, adding that an Ebola working group created by the DOH and hospital association has been meeting daily to develop specific protocols for training hospital staff and is finalizing a detailed safety checklist for medical facilities.
State lawmakers will hold a second Ebola briefing at the Capitol on Wednesday.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.
