According to a prepared statement from the health care provider, “Beaumont regularly evaluates operations and licensed beds at all hospital campuses and reports compliance with Certificate of Need (CON) guidelines to the State of Michigan. For the past six years, on average, more than half of the licensed beds at Beaumont, Wayne have not been utilized.
To better match community patient need to inpatient bed number, Beaumont Wayne will transition to 99 beds as Beaumont transfers 22 beds to Royal Oak and 10 to Troy,” said Beaumont Health Chief Operating Officer Carolyn Wilson.
The change will not affect the level of service provided at the Wayne campus. Having fewer licensed beds will help improve the financial stability of the hospital and allow for a larger number of patients to have private rooms. There will continue to be observation beds available at Wayne, in addition to the 99 inpatient beds, she added.
“We are committed to keeping our Wayne hospital open as the community knows it today and to supporting future reinvestment in the hospital. The reduction in licensed beds has nothing to do with our commitment to Wayne. It is part of an annual review across Beaumont,” she said. “Beaumont, Wayne is important to our health system and the communities we serve. Reducing the number of beds will allow us to preserve the current services we offer without compromising care.”
Beaumont regularly assesses its licensed beds and services. If additional licensed beds are needed in the future, Beaumont will take the appropriate steps to add additional capacity back to Beaumont, Wayne, Wilson said.
Many factors affecting health care are beyond Beaumont's control, such as government orders and the public's willingness to practice social distancing. Therefore, all plans are subject to change, Wilson stated.
Beaumont Health has been reconfiguring staffing and resources across the system as COVID-19 patient volume declines and non-COVID-19 volume rises. Services immediately returning to Beaumont, Wayne include: Emergency Center resumes Level 3 Trauma services; additional inpatient and ICU beds; expanded surgical and endoscopy services; expanded cardiac catheterization lab services; expanded imaging services, including increased scan availability on weekdays and Saturdays to accommodate increasing volume for PET and CT scans and MRIsand pulmonary function testing is now available to diagnose patients with asthma, allergies, chronic bronchitis, respiratory infections, lung fibrosis, COPD and other lung issues, according to a hospital spokesman.
These services are in addition to the patient services already returned in the first phase of the Beaumont, Wayne reopening which included: 24/7 emergency care with around-the-clock X-ray and CT coverage; labor and delivery and other obstetrical services; inpatient medical-surgical beds and support services, such as pharmacy, laboratory, food services and environmental services; Outpatient surgical and diagnostic services; infusion therapy and the breast care center.
“The Beaumont, Wayne team has been working diligently to provide diagnostic and treatment services for the Wayne community and surrounding areas. We remain committed to providing safe care for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients,” Wilson said. “Over the past few weeks, we have seen many of our patients return to Wayne for care and we're thrilled the local community is supporting the campus.”
