More than 237,000 health care workers are fully vaccinated and in compliance with the state mandate, new data shows, but hundreds of facilities have yet to report their data, and officials have begun issuing citations to those organizations.
The mandate took effect Oct. 1, and facilities were required to begin reporting their workforces’ uptake first that day and again by Oct. 15. But as of Oct. 14, a third of them — 794 — have yet to do so, according to data provided by the state Tuesday. All of those facilities were out of compliance with the mandate, and the state informed them of their “impending deficiencies” late last week, said Jessica Bralish, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health and Environment.
“CDPHE is issuing citations to all facilities that failed to report,” she said in an email.
When the state Board of Health passed the emergency rule requiring 100% vaccination of health care workers, officials made clear the state would hold facilities — not individual providers or workers — responsible for both tracking and ensuring uptake. Should facilities report below 100% compliance — which allows for some exemptions — they will face an escalating series of consequences, up to the state suspending or revoking their licenses, officials have said.
Representatives from various health industries, particularly the hospital and nursing home trade groups, have lobbied the state to lower the mandate to 90%, which would be in line with flu vaccine regulations. But state officials have firmly denied that request and have said they will wait for guidance from the federal government, which has its own, yet-to-be-detailed mandate coming.
According to a list of the 794 deficient facilities that have yet to report their numbers, 283 — more than 35% — are assisted-living centers. Vaccination uptake among long-term care staffers has been a consistent concern among industry and state leaders since vaccines became available late last year. Even though they were among the first group to be eligible to receive the vaccine, those workers were consistently behind both their residents and medical providers in uptake rates.
More than 300 of the out-of-compliance providers are home health or home care agencies. A relatively small amount — 13 — are hospitals, several of which are rehabilitation facilities. The deficient hospitals include Rose Medical Center in Denver, along with facilities in Vail, Kit Carson, Rio Grande, Estes Park and Haxton. One — the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo — is a state-run facility.
Twenty-two of the out-of-compliance providers are community clinics attached to state Department of Corrections facilities, according to the health department’s list. A spokeswoman for the agency said the department reports its vaccination numbers three times a week and that all of its facilities are in compliance.
“We are working with (the state health department) to ensure the report will accurately reflect the most recent data,” spokeswoman Annie Skinner said in an email Tuesday.
The significant number of facilities who have yet to report make it impossible to get a full picture of the total compliance among health care workers. But as of Tuesday, 237,410 are fully vaccinated. Another 4,884 are partially vaccinated — though still out of compliance, given the Oct. 1 deadline. More than 14,800 employees have been given exemptions, with the bulk — 12,131 — for religious reasons.
There are currently 6,374 known health care staffers who are unvaccinated.
It’s unclear how many total employees the state order covers and what proportion the 237,410 who’ve been inoculated represents; a follow-up email sent to a state spokeswoman was not returned Tuesday afternoon.
Despite requests from some health leaders, the state Board of Health — which meets Wednesday — will not consider loosening the vaccine mandate. Officials have said they will follow the lead of the federal government, which has yet to release its own vaccine mandate guidelines. Until then, Colorado’s facilities are expected to comply and will continue to face citations — and further discipline — should they not, the health department has said.
Health officials have said that facilities will likely need to begin terminating out-of-compliance employees by the end of the month or face those disciplinary measures.
This content was originally published here.