March 27, 2020 – 6:05pm
Nebraska abortion providers said Friday they are abiding by Gov. Pete Ricketts’ directions to postpone elective surgery, but continuing to provide abortions on a case-by-case basis. And Ricketts announced he is easing licensing requirement to get more health care professionals in Nebraska.
On Wednesday, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced directed health measures that include prohibiting elective surgeries in Lancaster, Douglas and Sarpy Counties, where the state’s three abortion clinics are located, in Lincoln, Omaha and Bellevue. Ricketts said that ban on elective surgery would apply to abortions.
Asked Thursday what would be considered elective abortions, Ricketts said “That would be up to the healthcare provider to be able to determine with their patients. So for example, if somebody’s life at stake that would be considered non elective. So that’s really up to the healthcare provider to work out that issue. We’re not going to go in and be prescriptive, because there’s so many different types of things that healthcare providers have to deal with their patients.”
Friday, Nebraska’s abortion providers said they were complying, but made it clear that that did not mean they would stop providing abortions.
In a written statement, Andi Curry Grubb, Nebraska Executive Director of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said “We are fully complying with Nebraska’s health orders.” Asked what that meant for abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics in Lincoln and Omaha, Grubb said “Our clinics continue to offer essential abortion care to our patients in accordance with the order. Each patient receives medical advice for their unique situation and a determination is made on a case by case basis.”
Similarly, Dr. LeRoy Carhart of the Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence in Bellevue said “We are fully complying with Nebraska’s Directed Health Measures by delaying non-essential procedures and conserving medical equipment, while continuing to serve our patients’ needs.”
Carhart elaborated in an interview with NET News.
“Certainly when patients that can wait, we will postpone them until it’s a safer time, but there are women that can’t wait. And for those patients we need to assess with them their problems and then act accordingly,” Carhart said.
Asked what factors would go into that determination, Carhart said it was a matter of risk.
“The risk of abortion is virtually zero to start with, at any gestation, but there definitely is a progression as the gestations get higher, as the risks increase and the costs increase and patients are being forced to carry a pregnancy that is already a problem — that
may have genetic problems or physical problems. The mothers are already at maximum strength and to force them to wait is just a punishment that we would have to take on a case-by-case basis,” he said.
At his daily news conference on the state’s response to coronavirus, Ricketts said he’s signing an executive order to make it easier for health care professionals to practice in the state. Among regulations he’s easing are requirements on professionals registered in other states who want to practice here; fees to obtain new or renewed licenses; and FBI background checks. The governor said he’s being proactive.
“We want to make sure that we have the ability to surge up to meet the demand that we may have as the coronavirus spreads here in our state.
Now currently, we have plenty of healthcare professionals to handle the current demand. But as we look down the road, we will see that we may need to have more professionals,” Ricketts said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bill McDonnell of Blue Cross/Blue Shield said that insurance company is making changes to promote more telemedicine.
“Essentially our telehealth policy will reimburse doctors and other healthcare providers. The same for telehealth as they would for any kind of office visit follows the same rules. In addition, unlike usual office visits, there will not be co pays to the patients there will not be the cost sharing that you normally have,” McDonnell said.
Asked if the changes cover mental health, McDonnell said they would, to the extent of mental health services that are currently covered in office visits, and can be provided remotely.
SOURCE: http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1213518/abortions-continue-case-case-basis-licensing-requirements-health-professionals?fbclid=IwAR3GbWZY-hRqV17lWVEyYG6uqDY0VNXgw64a3HE1FZEln5g-4QOQKinE3-U
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