TITLE: Directing the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Department of State Health Services to establish and maintain a system of guidance, coordination, and oversight to address hospital understaffing and ICU bed shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUMMARY: Directing the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Department of State Health Services to establish and maintain a system of guidance, coordination, and oversight to address hospital understaffing and ICU bed shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FULL TEXT:
WHEREAS, The rapid spread of the COVID-19 delta variant is threatening to overwhelm hospitals as they struggle with low staffing levels and the related shortage of ICU beds; and WHEREAS, Across Texas, there are 23,000 more unfilled registered nurse positions than there are job-seeking nurses, according to the Texas Workforce Commission; medical personnel are suffering from severe burnout as the pandemic drags on, driving high rates of turnover; because other states are also struggling with the delta variant, our understaffed hospitals struggle to hire contract nurses or transfer patients when necessary; and WHEREAS, The registered nurse shortage threatens to both decrease access to health care and lower its quality; even if a hospital does have adequate ICU beds, it can only use those that have adequate staff coverage; and WHEREAS, In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Department of State Health Services provided communities with guidance, oversight, and resources to support hospital care; using federal relief funds, DSHS contracted with staffing companies to recruit medical professionals for deployment to COVID-19 hot spots around the state; and WHEREAS, Once vaccination efforts began to reduce patient numbers in 2021, the state started to demobilize supplemental staff; however, not long after the state's last nurse contracts ended, the delta variant commenced its rampage through the still-considerable ranks of the unvaccinated; then, in a July 29, 2021, letter, TDEM appeared to shift the pandemic response to county and city leaders, leaving them to address the delta variant surge by seeking and disbursing federal Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery funds; however, throughout the pandemic, state guidance, management, and oversight have proven crucial in developing a coherent response, and the lack of same is likely to result in confusion and inefficiency, as well as deleterious bidding wars and staff poaching among more densely populated communities with better resources and rural areas already desperately scrambling to compete for scarce staff; and WHEREAS, The urgency of the current public health crisis requires all levels of government to work together under clear guidance and coordination, and the continued leadership of TDEM and DSHS is essential to ensure that CLFR funds are utilized with maximum effectiveness and that all Texans have access to high-quality health care at this critical juncture; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas, 2nd Called Session, hereby direct the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Department of State Health Services to establish and maintain a system of guidance, coordination, and oversight to address hospital understaffing and ICU bed shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic; and, be it further RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management and to the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.