TecSalud’s Response to COVID-19

At the start of the crisis, TecSalud established a response team (a.k.a. “the bunker”) to address the pandemic. The team identified four priorities: minimize disease transmission; protect patients, healthcare staff, employees, and students; keep the healthcare system functioning; and reduce morbidity and mortality. San José Hospital (HSJ) was designated as TecSalud’s exclusive COVID-19 treatment hospital.
The case focuses on two pivotal moments when difficult decisions had to be made:
1. In May 2020, HSJ had been operating for eight weeks with an occupancy rate of 14%, resulting in significant financial losses. The bunker leader and TecSalud’s president, Dr. Guillermo Torre, decided with his team not to change course despite the risks and resistance from key stakeholders.
2. In January 2021, at the peak of the second wave of infections in the state of Nuevo León, Torre, and the bunker members considered closing HSJ’s doors to new COVID-19 patients because demand had exceeded the hospital’s operational capacity; staffing was inadequate, personnel were exhausted and dissatisfied, and many resigned. Representatives from intensive care, medical management, nursing, and HSJ operations argued that quality of care couldn’t be guaranteed,putting patients at risk. However, others argued that closing admissions to HSJ would deny care to patients with no other healthcare alternative.
The case concludes on Monday, January 25, 2021, when Torre and the response team met to decide the
course of action for COVID-19 patients.