Amid surging COVID-19 infections, overflowing hospitals, and exhausted healthcare workers, Massachusetts hospital leaders are hanging on a glimmer of hope: some treatments, vaccines, and hard-won knowledge from the earlier outbreaks have meant fewer severely ill COVID patients.

And those who do need intensive care generally are recovering more quickly, doctors say.

Hospital and health system CFOs have navigated many changes and challenges in the industry in 2021, including staffing shortages and rising inflation.

This year, dozens of finance leaders from hospitals and health systems across the U.S. shared their perspectives on a variety of topics with Becker's Hospital Review via podcasts and interviews. Below are quotes from 11 of those executives, discussing everything from the best piece of advice for their peers to their most pressing concern.

When Eleni Nicolau became sick with COVID after Thanksgiving, a breakthrough infection that hit the 83-year-old hard, she found herself alone in a hospital room, separated from her family and struggling to breathe.

Then doctors gave her a new option: Did she want to finish her hospitalization at home?

On Tuesday, UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester instituted new visitor policies in response to rising COVID case numbers and the Omicron variant.

According to the new visitor policy, adult patients will only be allowed one designated visitor. This visitor must be the same individual throughout the course of the patient’s hospitalization, meaning other visitors for the same patient will not be permitted. The previous policy had allowed two visitors per patient. 

WORCESTER — Dr. Erik Garcia’s Monday started at 7:30 a.m. at the Queen Street shelter, where he saw two patients with more than a dozen medical conditions.

Four hours later, Garcia was finishing up giving COVID tests and checking in with patients at the Hotel Grace shelter and had to decline a BLT — he was due back at his office on Chandler Street for more appointments.

WORCESTER, Mass. - There are no detected cases of the omicron variant in Central and Western Massachusetts, but it doesn't mean they won't appear. 

UMass Memorial Health says most of their hospitalized COVID patients have the delta variant of the virus.

A growing surge of COVID-19 patients is stressing already packed hospitals and causing more cancellations of elective procedures.

"We have a severe bed shortage crisis," said UMass Memorial Health President Eric Dickson. "The patients are backing up into the emergency department that need to be admitted into the hospital."

The Massachusetts Medical Society is pushing for a statewide mask mandate for indoor public spaces, with COVID-19 cases rising and straining hospitals, as several cities and towns have already reinstituted mandates in their communities.

REGION – The Corridor 9/495 Regional Chamber of Commerce announced the winners of its year-end awards earlier this month, recognizing businesses and individual contributors to the area business community.