Hospitals on Life Support
ON MARCH 18, THE PHONE CALLS FROM DOCTORS’ OFFICES STARTED: “WE’RE GOING to need to reschedule your appointment.” Governor J.B. Pritzker had issued the mandate: Unless a medical procedure was immediately essential, it wasn’t happening. Hospitals canceled everything from cancer screenings to elective surgeries — which can account for more than half of their revenue — to focus on COVID-19 care, preserving supplies and reducing the risk to other patients. Hospitals were spending more for basics like drugs, masks, and surgical gowns, while the revenue from traditionally lucrative nonemergency procedures was cut off.
During the pandemic’s first
