By David Eggert
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan hospitals and physicians have “broad discretion” to decide whether to delay procedures during the pandemic, the state said in new guidance issued in the face of pressure to let providers do more as the curve of coronavirus cases flattens.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive and chief deputy health director, sent the memo Sunday. It came six weeks after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer restricted all nonessential medical and dental care to ensure that the health care system had enough capacity and equipment to treat COVID-19 patients and to limit the virus’s spread.
The governor’s order remain in effect but “is intended to be flexible, preserve clinician judgment and encourage consideration on an individual basis of which patient services can be safely delayed without resulting in a significant decline in health,” Khaldun said.
In-person contact should be limited as much as possible, she said. But if clinicians determine it is necessary, they should take steps such as asking patients to wait in their cars until their appointments, requiring masks and having separate entrances for healthy and sick patient visits.
Khaldun encouraged providers to prioritize appointments for their most vulnerable patients and to consider allowing visits for immunizations.
“Recognize that procedures or visits that were not time-sensitive several weeks ago may now be, based on clinician judgement,” she wrote.
Top officials, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Republican lawmakers, have raised concerns that people with serious conditions are not being treated. Duggan, who used to be a hospital administrator, said last week that hospitals in the city — which has been hit hard by the coronavirus but is stabilizing — had 700 open beds and an additional 100 open beds in intensive care units, something it never saw in normal times.
Henry Ford Health System in southeastern Michigan said it had 310 COVID-19 patients Monday, down 30% from a week ago.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
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