Collaborating Across Private, Public, Community, and Federal Hospital Systems: Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic Response in NYC

Abstract

Summary In the spring of 2020, New York City became the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. During the peak from March 10 to May 1, the hospitals of the Department of Medicine at New York University Grossman School of Medicine — including an academic, private hospital in a community setting, a private hospital, an affiliated public hospital, and an affiliated Veterans Affairs federal hospital — cared for more than 5,000 hospitalized patients with Covid-19. Each hospital encountered unique challenges based on its own resources, affiliations, size, and patient populations. However, with ongoing collaboration, leadership developed protocols applicable across sites. Despite these four hospitals being distinct, these collaborations resulted in many strategies that can be applied to a wide variety of medical centers that must rapidly respond to the unprecedented challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article, the authors describe strategies for communication, surge planning, clinical care, and staff wellness.