St. Mark’s Requiring Staff Vaccinations To Comply With Mandate

St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange will start requiring COVID-19 vaccination for its staff on Dec. 5.

“The Biden administration recently announced a requirement for COVID-19 vaccines for greater majority of healthcare workers and employees,” said St. Mark’s CEO Mark Kimball in an interview Friday, Nov. 12. “This is not St. Mark’s. We have to be in compliance with the federal government.”

Kimball said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the mandate for healthcare workers on Nov. 4. He said the hospital must require vaccines for staff or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid payments, a major source of revenue for the hospital.

“As a condition of the Medi care program, we have to mandate vaccines,” Kimball said. “If we’re not in compliance, CMS will not pay us Medicare or Medicaid dollars. Its that simple.”

Kimball said the majority of St. Mark’s staff has been vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus. Those who have not must receive their either the single shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine or a first does of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine by Dec. 5. If they chose the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, the second dose has to be completed by Jan. 4.

“I don’t have exact numbers, but the majority of our staff have been vaccinated,” Kimball said. “We do have some employees that have not been vaccinated. We’re talking to them about that.”

Kimball said the federal mandate allows exemptions for religious and medical reasons. Those who do not have an exemption must get a shot by Dec. 5 or face termination.

When asked if he anticipated layoffs, Kimball said the following: “We certainly don’t want that to happen, but there very well could be.”

Kimball said he supports the vaccine and encourages everyone to get it.

“What we have seen at St. Mark’s, when we had the spikes of the COVID variant recently, we’d have 10 positive patients in the hospital, and 90 percent were not vaccinated and one was vaccinated,” Kimball said. “In society, a lot of people get vaccinated for the flu, chicken pox, and other elements. For whatever reasons (COVID vaccines) turned into a political issue. It should not have become a political issue.”

However, Kimball said he fears the new mandate will put even more stress on healthcare systems already struggling with staffing.

“When COVID came out, a lot of nurses retired out of the industry,” Kimball said. “It’s going to further complicate the staffing issues without a doubt. Not everyone will choose to be vaccinated. If they chose not to be vaccinated, they will not be allowed to work in the healthcare industry.

“Healthwise, it will make a difference for the future,” he said. “It will hurt us in the short run when it comes to staffing. I believe in the long run it will make the industry stronger, make us much safer and bring us better patient care.”

Fayette County EMS DIrector Josh Vandever said he encourages people to get the vaccine. However, he said his department has no plans to require vaccines for workers.

“I advocate for the vaccine because after extensive research and watching basic statistics it seems to be safe and effective,” Vandever said. “I have no intention to make anyone take it if they don’t feel comfortable in doing so.

“We have seen schools requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID to be able to participate in their programs, though,” Vandever added. “This could cause the shortage of paramedics we are facing to get even worse. It just doesn’t make sense to force people to do something they aren’t comfortable doing in a time where we are relying on them more than ever.”

Vandever said he would not require his staff to get vaccinated unless County leadership orders him to do so. However, Vandever said his department also receives a large share of revenue from Medicare and Medicaid, and he didn’t yet know how the new mandate would affect EMS payments.