LINCOLN- Healthcare leaders started looking ahead to the grim possibility that the hospital system would become completely overwhelmed. Things such as ventilator or dialysis machines all being used, oxygen running short, rooms all being filled and more are possibilities the state needs to avoid. A group of officials from CHI, Methodist and Nebraska Medicine has since developed the state's first "crisis standards of care plan".

Nebraska is not yet at the point where this would need to be activated, however COVID patients account for 23% of hospitalizations.

The plan calls for making decisions based on patients’ likelihood of surviving their current illness, as well as their likelihood of living at least another year. Triage teams would measure survival chances using a system that assigns points for the number and severity of organ failures, with some adjustments for people with chronic medical conditions. Those with the best chances would get the highest priority for care. All patients would get basic care and supportive counseling. The plan, which was based on a Massachusetts model, specifically bars the use of other factors, including a person’s disability, in deciding who gets care.

Sen. Howard, Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, fell short on her attempt to convene a special session to give the governor authority to back the plan. She said government backing will make sure all healthcare officials are on the same page and will give them legal protection.

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