NOTE: This message was emailed on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, from Alan Levine, Ballad Health chairman and chief executive officer, to all Ballad Health team members.
Good morning:
As you know, in early September, President Biden announced his intention to utilize federal agencies and their regulatory power over private businesses and health care institutions to enforce a mandate for vaccinating employees and, in the case of hospitals, anyone coming into connection with these institutions. This sweeping effort is the first time the federal government has ever taken such a step.
On Oct. 26, I testified before the United States Congress and shared my concern about the use of sweeping federal powers to force a nationwide mandate. I argued that a “one size fits all approach” does not respect cultural differences throughout regions of the country, and failure to respect those cultural differences could do more harm than good in terms of educating people about the benefits and risks of the vaccines. I shared that Ballad Health’s preference is to focus on education.
I also shared my strong belief that, based on the evidence we have seen, and based on the number of deaths we have seen among people who are unvaccinated, we strongly support any effort to educate the public about the benefits of the vaccine so people could make informed choices from credible sources. Ballad Health’s position was clear…. we were for the use of the vaccines, IN ADDITION TO the many treatment options we provide to people – for instance, Ballad Health was one of the first systems to make monoclonal antibodies widely available. We were the first health system to make widespread testing available. And when President Trump’s FDA provided approval for the vaccines he pushed for, Ballad Health was one of the first health systems to make the vaccines widely available.
Then… in early November, there were three distinctive rules promulgated through emergency rulemaking based on President Biden’s executive order in Washington.
- OSHA announced that all employers with more than 100 employees were required to ensure employees were vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. The OSHA rule would apply to hospitals and any employer with more than 100 employees.
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that all hospitals, home health agencies and a variety of other health care institutions must ensure their employees and other associates who frequent these institutions are vaccinated. There is no alternative for weekly testing in the CMS rule. In addition to the OSHA rule, the CMS rule applied to hospitals and health systems like ours.
- President Biden also announced a requirement for any federal contractor to ensure their employees are vaccinated. This had a minimal effect on Ballad Health and its affiliates.
After these rules were promulgated, Ballad Health announced we must comply with the CMS mandate as compliance was regarded by CMS as a Condition for Participation in Medicare. We communicated this immediately to you in order to be transparent about our need to remain a participant in Medicare and Medicaid, given that 70+% of our population is served by these programs.
We moved quickly to establish a policy, and made adjustments based on helpful input from team members who had some reasonable concerns about some of the language. We are grateful for the helpful dialogue, and always welcome constructive advice. We also consulted with an ethics committee comprising members of clergy, physicians, nurses and other community members to ensure we were both compliant and respectful of religious beliefs related to the use of vaccination. And as you know, we have been reviewing requested exemptions for both religious and medical reasons in compliance with the federal rule.
Over the course of the last couple of weeks, as various states have filed lawsuits, we have been watching the reaction of the courts. Tennessee, for instance, filed a lawsuit challenging the federal contractor requirements. And this week, a federal court sided with Tennessee. Several states sued over the OSHA rule, and a federal court ruled in favor of those states. Subsequent to that ruling, OSHA announced it was suspending enforcement pending the outcome of the litigation.
Two days ago, yet another federal court ruled that CMS cannot enforce the mandate, but that ruling only applied to the 10 states who filed the lawsuit – Tennessee or Virginia were not among those states – thus the rule still applied to our health system. And late yesterday, yet another federal court issued an order enjoining CMS from enforcing its rule nationally. This latest ruling suspends any enforcement of the CMS rule pending the outcome of the litigation.
As a result of all this, Ballad Health is suspending the Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Policy implemented and first communicated to you Nov. 11. This suspension is pending the ultimate outcome of the litigation. The Dec. 5 deadline for receiving your first shot is therefore suspended. As always, Ballad Health seeks to comply with properly promulgated rules and laws, and will act accordingly in such cases.
We continue to urge you to consider the vaccination, particularly if you are at higher risk of serious illness. The number of hospitalizations is increasing, and we continue to see that the overwhelming majority of people who are dying or suffering significantly are NOT vaccinated. It is clear the vaccination does not prevent the spread of the virus, although it may slow it down. The evidence strongly shows that those who are vaccinated, and who get the virus, largely do not wind up being hospitalized or seriously ill.
We will communicate with you as any events may change.
Thank you for all you do for our patients and our communities. Let’s remain focused on taking good care of people.
God Bless,
Alan
Alan Levine
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Ballad Health
