Quote Originally Posted by Gutter Cobreh View Post
Neither mortality rate or case mix within the ICU matter. I'm not sure why folks get so hung up on this. Obviously, you want a low death rate but the point is (and has always been) bed capacity within a hospital. Patients aren't in ICU because they want to be and/or normal ICU patients don't stop needing that level of care because we're in a pandemic. You're always going to have a mix.

With elective surgeries being suspended, those health systems in those counties are about to start hemorrhaging cash. They'll still have the expenses because beds are occupied, but they won't be reimbursed at the level elective surgeries generate.

What happens when a business maintains their expenses and their revenues drop? They lay people off to cut costs and balance their budgets.
I'm not sure if there are still funds available or not, but at one point hospitals were getting government money for covid patients. If they still are, that could bridge the gap.