5Q: Dr. James E. Fanale | CEO and president, Care New England Health System
1. How has Care New England approached the issue of employees who continue to refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19? We continue to work with our entire staff, talk to each and every employee we can, to emphasize how important it is to keep our patients safe. We can only keep our promise on that by keeping our employees vaccinated. We’ll talk to people in groups. At the end of the day, we have to hold firm that this is the right thing for our patients, so that’s what we’ve done.
2. Does Care New England share concerns about labor shortages that other health care organizations and associations have expressed recently, including worries that the vaccine mandate will drive hourly workers to other jobs that do not have such requirements? Sure, we’re worried about the effect it has on staffing. Staffing is tight in a lot of places, including hospitals, including ours. That’s nothing new. However, we’re in the business of keeping patients safe. I don’t think there’s any other way to do this than by insisting on the vaccine. We’ll work through any situation we need to.
3. What was your reaction to the announcement by President Joe Biden that all workplaces over 100 employees would have to comply with a vaccine mandate and how that will impact the health care system here and across the country? We believe that if all health care systems stick with a vaccine mandate, people who work in the health care industry will have to be vaccinated or exit the field. We believe it’s an honor and a privilege to provide health care. We take it seriously. To the extent all health care systems stand by the vaccine mandate, that’ll help all of us.
4. The pandemic was initially devastating to Care New England. Where does the organization stand now financially? I would say that the pandemic has been devastating to just about every health care system. We were able to get support funding through Washington, as well as the state, to help get us through these difficult two years. The pandemic is still having a substantial financial impact on a lot of us. Nursing shortages abound. Filling vacancies with staffing agency nurses is very expensive.
5. Where does the Lifespan Corp.-Care New England merger process stand? What are the obstacles/challenges that remain to getting it done and what’s the timeline for that to happen? We’re in the regulatory process. That continues. We’re submitting all answers to the questions that are asked by the regulators. We’ll continue down that process. I have no other timeline to give you today.
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Larocque@PBN.com.