The American Hospital Association (AHA), representing nearly 5,000 member hospitals and health systems, and over 270,000 physicians and 2,000,000 nurses, called upon Congress to relieve some of the financial stress upon a medical system so battered by Delta and Omicron. In a Jan. 20 letter to the heads of the Senate (Schumer and McConnell) and the House (Pelosi and McCarthy), the AHA makes clear that the country’s front-line is in trouble. The “relentless and crushing workload on our stressed, tired and burned-out caregivers persists, and in many places, is increasing.” Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and usage of ICU’s are at historic levels.
The AHA makes four requests. Congress had established the PRF at the beginning of pandemic, and most of the $186.5 billion has been distributed – but nothing new has been arranged while Delta and Omicron changed the situation on the ground. The AHA calls for extending the deadlines for applications on the remaining funds, and to add another $25 $25 billion. Next, the Medicare Sequester Relief, that had delayed the 2% Medicare reduction from December to April, 2022, and lowered the reduction to 1% for three months, needs to be extended until the public health emergency is over. The higher costs for labor, drugs, supplies, meeting the surges, the lack of income from operations and other regular medical procedures, and the high cost of COVID cases made this necessary.
