“We’ve restructured internally to focus on virtual health not just throughout our on demand platform but through how we deliver those services,” Massini said. “I think that was the good thing that came out of COVID. It really pushed us to invest in how we deliver our care.”

The rush for personal protective equipment, patients unable to seek help at hospitals and varying reports of the incoming wave of COVID-19 created a difficult environment to perform in last March, but Penn State Health predicts a different outcome for a potential second wave.

A new state order for Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities mandates all organizations to provide pre-approved personal protective equipment to all staff working directly with COVID-19 positive residents by Aug. 27.

Maintaining personal protection equipment for patients and staff has become a full-time job for independent health care providers who have not received the help from the state that their counterparts in health care systems have.

Dr. Roxanna Gapstur, president and CEO of WellSpan Health, spoke to the Central Penn Business Journal last week about the system's COVID-19 efforts and how the pandemic has effected its facilities and patients.

Minnetonka, Minnesota-based nonprofit the United Health Foundation donated $750,000 to the Pennsylvania Homecare Association’s Pennsylvania Foundation for Home Care and Hospice to provide personal protective equipment and online training for home care and hospice workers in the state.

WellSpan Health leaders took a proactive approach by fostering relationships to secure necessary resources to care for communities and staff, including a partnership with Letterkenny Army Depot near Chambersburg.

Businesses and residents of Central Pennsylvania can rest assured that health care providers in the region have the medical supplies they need to treat COVID-19 patients, according to representatives of two major Central Penn health systems. UPMC Pinnacle has a strong supply chain system in place to ensure that the system is building an adequate ...

Starting Sunday, employers must require all employees and customers to wear masks at work, under an order issued today by state Health Secretary Rachel Levine. The order also requires companies to provide masks for workers, and deny entry to customers who are not wearing one.

York County’s mass transit service, Rabbittransit, said it will begin turning passengers away that aren’t wearing face masks next week.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed an order on Wednesday that will allow the state to track all personal protective equipment and supplies held by health care providers, as well as manufacturers and distributers, and allocate it to facilities with the greatest need.

Hospitals across the country are experiencing a widespread lack of access to COVID-19 testing supplies, according to a survey from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.