MaineHealth on Monday defended its decision to vaccinate all hospital staff against COVID-19, saying it followed federal and state guidelines that were in effect until the effort was underway.
But Maine Medical Center, MaineHealth’s main hospital in Portland, erred in vaccinating “a small number” of out-of-state consultants who were hired to assist in the struggle to unionize nurses, which happened after the state issued an orientation limiting vaccination in Maine residents, network officials said.
“We understand that non-residents of Maine are not eligible for any vaccine and recognize that we were wrong to vaccinate these individuals,” said MaineHealth in a written statement responding to a column by Bill Nemitz in this week’s Maine Sunday Telegram.
On Sunday, however, MaineHealth CEO Bill Caron sent a letter to the network’s board of trustees confirming that he had been informed in December that eligibility guidelines for the first phase would be changed to exclude hospital employees who did not. have face-to-face contact with patients, including remote staff, telehealth, administrative, information technology and billing.
Caron said he decided to continue vaccinating all hospital staff, regardless of the rules, as a necessary measure to protect the hospital’s operations and infrastructure.
Caron had a “somewhat heated” conversation with Dr. Nirav Shah, head of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, saying he was “changing the rules of the game – which he didn’t recognize,” said Caron. At that time, MaineHealth had inoculated employees who dealt with patients, both clinical and non-clinical, and started vaccinating employees who had no contact with patients.
“It was on December 29 that I made the decision to continue vaccinating members of our Tier 5 care team, even if the governor changed the rules the next day,” said Caron in the letter to the trustees. “That day I told our (MaineHealth management team) that they and I potentially ‘have a target in the back’, but we needed to move forward to protect our health infrastructure.”
Caron said that “I would make the same decision today … and I know that the whole (management team) would be there with me. Our decision was based on the values we uphold as a system and we were focused on protecting the valuable healthcare infrastructure resource that has been entrusted to us. We were disciplined and followed the federal and state guidelines we received. “
MaineHealth CEO Bill Caron, photographed last week before the opening of a mass vaccination clinic at former Scarborough Downs, said on Monday that the company “followed the federal and state guidelines given to us” in vaccination all hospital staff. Derek Davis / Team photographer Buy this photo
Although Caron was informed of the change on December 29, it did not appear in the guidance posted on the state’s website until January 13, MaineHealth said on Monday.
Caron noted that, in the beginning, the US CDC defined “health workers” to include all health workers, with the aim of protecting health infrastructure. In Maine, hospitals have taken a step forward to lead the COVID-19 vaccination effort after severe public health budget cuts by ex-Governor Paul LePage and a lack of advanced planning by the current administration.
In addition, Caron said, after hospitals began vaccinating frontline health workers in mid-December, Governor Janet Mills and state health officials began to face increasing pressure from health providers outside of hospital networks. who wanted the vaccine for their employees.
As of Monday, 68 percent of MaineHealth’s 22,500 employees had received both vaccines from Pfizer three weeks apart, indicating that most had received at least one injection by the time the Maine CDC updated the vaccination guidance for the Phase 1A on its online panel on January 13, MaineHealth officials said.
Shah declined an interview request on Monday and the Maine CDC did not respond to a request for documents showing several changes to Phase 1A vaccination guidelines.
Jackie Farwell, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, provided a link and summary of current guidelines, which reflect the US CDC guidelines and now exclude administrative staff who do not deal with patients and staff who work remotely.
“Maine DHHS informed MaineHealth and other vaccine providers about these guidelines and communicated this definition consistently,” said Farwell in a prepared statement. “In late December, Maine DHHS further defined for MaineHealth and other vaccine providers which employees qualify as Phase 1A qualified health professionals to target vaccines more effectively to frontline workers.”
However, an archived description of eligible Phase 1A health workers who were on the Maine CDC panel before January 13 said that they are “paid and unpaid personnel serving in health facilities that have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials … (they) include members of the medical staff, including nursing assistants or doctors, and support staff members (for example, those who work with food, the environment and administrative services). ” linked to the US CDC website for more information. At the time, none of the sites excluded non-patient personnel.
Meanwhile, on January 12, the National Nurses United and Maine State Nurses Association filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent the 1,600 full-time, part-time and regular nurses at Maine Med.
Within weeks, Maine Med hired Florida-based Reliant Labor Consultants to provide mandatory “training” to nurses “to help them decide whether they want a union to speak for them,” according to an internal memo. Reliant lists among its services “avoiding a union” and “fighting a union”.
Caron and other MaineHealth employees said that Maine Med typically offers vaccinations to contracted service providers who have regular contact with care team members or patients.
During the week that started on January 17, Maine Med offered vaccine to about 10 people from outside the state who were brought in to “provide support” to nurses and managers in answering questions about the impact of joining a union, according to the MaineHealth statement.
However, on January 18, the state issued a new guideline that only Maine residents were eligible for vaccines and MaineHealth made a mistake in vaccinating out-of-state consultants, the statement said.
MaineHealth’s decision to vaccinate all members of the care team has proven to be beneficial as it has started to create mass vaccination clinics in its service area, the statement said.
“Most of the employees who worked primarily at home during the pandemic are now being transferred to staff vaccine clinics,” said the statement. “MaineHealth defends its decision to guarantee its complete health system by vaccinating its complete care team. We believe it is the best approach for patients, care team members and the communities we serve. “
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