Gov. Ricketts extends DHM designed to address hospital staffing shortages

LINCOLN, Neb. - A directed health measure meant to address hospital staffing shortages was extended by Gov. Pete Ricketts on Wednesday. The DHM was scheduled to expire on Thursday.

The DHM suspends inpatient Class D and Class E elective surgeries for all acute care, critical care, and children’s hospitals in Nebraska. These are elective surgeries that are considered operations that can wait four weeks or longer without substantially changing a patient’s outcome.

With the extension, the DHM will remain in place until until Oct. 31, unless it is renewed again.

According to the Nebraska Hospital Capacity Dashboard, there are only 24 percent of staffed hospital beds available and 15 percent of staffed ICU beds available in the state.

For pediatric patients, there are 23 percent of staffed hospital beds available and 16 percent of staffed ICU beds available.

The full DHM is available by clicking here.