Buffalo Business First explored what CMS' "hospitals without walls" directive could look like as governments work to convert public buildings into healthcare facilities.
What you should know:
1. In Buffalo, N.Y., the government is weighing converting the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, college dorm rooms and closed healthcare facilities into hospitals. ASCs, inpatient rehabilitation facilities and even hotels could also be used as makeshift recovery units.
2. The facilities would be built with the assistance of the Army Corps of Engineers. They would be designed to be built quickly, simply and effectively.
3. Buffalo-based Catholic Health is already in the process of building a COVID-19 recovery unit in a former 200-bed nursing home in Orchard Park, N.Y. The unit will open with 80 beds to begin with but have capacity for more. Catholic Health already operates one COVID-19 acute care site.
4. Buffalo aims to use any temporary care sites for lower-risk patients, saving the hospitals for patients in dire need.