AHA urges Congress to provide additional relief to hospitals beyond the $175B in the CARES Act

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The American Hospital Association wants Congress to allocate additional provider relief funds beyond the original $175 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The AHA is not asking Congress for a specific dollar amount.

Almost all the funds left in the original PRF have been allotted, the AHA said, but HRSA is still distributing these funds to providers, such as this week's announced $413 million to 3,600 providers. 

In a March 23 letter to House and Senate leaders, AHA executive vice president Stacey Hughes said, "While the support Congress has provided during the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic has helped hospitals care for their patients and communities, there is still a significant need for financial support and relief as COVID-19 challenges persist."  

WHY THIS MATTERS

While the nation remains weary and is eager to move past this pandemic, the AHA said, the virus continues to evolve as shown by the recent surge of cases and hospitalizations abroad fueled by the Omicron subvariant known as BA.2.

"The battle is not over, and hospitals and health systems continue to need resources and flexibilities to care for patients and protect communities," the letter said. "The AHA strongly supports the Biden Administration's request for federal support for vaccines and therapeutics, testing, research and funding that supports the uninsured. These are essential to our country's ability to respond to COVID-19. However, we also urge Congress to include direct support and relief for healthcare providers."

The AHA requests Congress to: 

• Extend the deadline for spending previously distributed funds and provide additional PRF dollars for healthcare providers who continue to have lost revenues and increased expenses due to the financial strain caused by the Delta and Omicron variants.
• An additional extension of the 2% Medicare reduction until the end of the public health emergency, or until December 31, whichever is later.

"Without immediate action to delay sequestration by April 1, the AHA estimates hospitals will lose $3 billion by the end of the year," the letter said.

• Suspend repayments of the Accelerated and Advance Payments Programs for six months and allow for recoupment after the repayment suspension at 25% of Medicare claims payments for the following 12 months.
• Keep waiver flexibilities allowed under the public health emergency for telehealth and hospital at home programs.

"While these flexibilities were created as a direct response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, our members have found that this process acted as a catalyst for establishing new, innovative and safe ways for delivering patient-centered care," the AHA said. "We urge Congress to continue some of these flexibilities after the COVID-19 public health emergency."

The AHA wants Congress to extend use of acute hospital care at home as currently authorized under the waiver and it wants telehealth flexibilities to be made permanent. Currently, telehealth provisions have been extended for 151 days after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. 

THE LARGER TREND

There have been more than 79 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 970,000 deaths, according to the AHA. 

"PRF funds have been exhausted through the disbursement of several tranches and targeted payments with strict guardrails as to how and in what time frame they could be used," the AHA said. In addition, $17 billion of the PRF resources were diverted to other uses.

ON THE RECORD

"Shockingly, no distributions were made for expenses related to the Delta or Omicron variant surges, despite 49% of COVID-19 admissions occurring during these two surges resulting in steep increases in cases, hospitalizations and deaths," said Hughes. "The lack of PRF dollars to address issues wrought by these surges has left many hospitals facing overwhelming financial and operational challenges."

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org