{"id":32725,"date":"2020-06-24T09:44:54","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T15:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=32725"},"modified":"2023-06-22T10:03:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T16:03:43","slug":"colorado-hospital-systems-teamed-up-to-save-lives-of-covid-19-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/colorado-hospital-systems-teamed-up-to-save-lives-of-covid-19-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado hospital systems teamed up to save lives of COVID-19 patients \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Colorado
Colorado doctors from multiple health systems teamed up to save lives during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A rare collaboration among hospital systems during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic almost certainly saved lives in Colorado, according to new data that the hospitals released on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Soon after the first known case of COVID-19 emerged in Colorado on March 5, doctors with Colorado\u2019s largest health systems started meeting daily. They shared updates on the new virus that was sickening people in the U.S. and around the world, along with insights on how best to care for patients.<\/p>\n

In all, the hospital systems cared for 96% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Colorado. This included 4,903 people, nearly one-third of whom received care at UCHealth hospitals.<\/p>\n

The collaboration also included Banner Health, Boulder Community Health, Centura Health, Denver Health, HealthOne and SCL Health.<\/p>\n

These health systems dedicated resources to collecting and sharing data and now are sharing the information with both the State of Colorado and the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never seen health systems come together like this to serve the state,\u201d said Scott Bookman, incident commander for the State of Colorado\u2019s COVID-19 response team. \u201cThis group is to be commended in the way that they have come together to serve all of Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across all the systems, nearly 66% of hospitalized patients were able to go home after their treatments. About 18% were discharged to a different facility, including nursing homes, long term care and hospice care. Of patients hospitalized in the seven systems, 14 percent did not survive COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado hospitals teamed up to better care for patients during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. All data and charts are available at www.coloradohospitalcovid19.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. J.P. Valin, chief clinical officer for SCL Health and one of the leaders of the collaborative, said Colorado is unique in having so many disparate health systems work together. Valin also said no other state has released such comprehensive data about COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis summary of the first wave shows that length of stay, mortality rates and ventilator use were higher in older age groups. Older patients had higher mortality rates and (longer) lengths of stay. Ventilator use decreased from March to May. That could be related to better therapies including antivirals and convalescent plasma,\u201d Valin said.<\/p>\n

While the deaths were all tragic, survival rates improved over time as doctors learned how to better care for people sick with COVID-19. Among patients who had to be hospitalized in March, 15% died compared to 10.5% by May.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly there was a change in how we were able to care for the patients, and there was a change in their outcomes, said Dr. William Neff<\/a>, chief medical officer for UCHealth, and a member of the collaborative.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly on, there was a lot we didn\u2019t know,\u201d Neff said. \u201cThe change in results is probably driven more by our education and learning how to better care for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Younger patients fared the best, while people ages 60 and older who became sick with COVID-19 had the highest mortality rates.<\/p>\n

More younger people now appear to be getting sick with COVID-19. Neff and other health leaders believe that\u2019s because older people know they are at higher risk for faring poorly with COVID-19. Thus, more older adults appear to be staying home as much as possible, while many younger people are venturing out now.<\/p>\n

As a result of the collaboration among the diverse hospital systems, doctors and health leaders learned critical lessons that improved care for patients. Among the group\u2019s findings:<\/p>\n