U.S still has not distributed tens of billions of dollars in pandemic aid for hospitals and nursing homes

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Thu, 2021-09-02 09:47 — mike kraft

Tens of billions of dollars in pandemic aid for hospitals and nursing homes not distributed The Biden administration has not handed out additional provider-relief money designated by Congress last year. Amy Goldstein Washington Post

Tens of billions of dollars designated by Congress to help hospitals, nursing homes and other health-care providers stave off financial hardship in the coronavirus pandemic are sitting unused because the Biden administration has not released the money.

As many hospitals bulge again with covid-19 patients, a wide swath of the health-care industry is exasperated that federal health officials have not made available any more of the aid since President Biden took office. About $44 billion from a Provider Relief Fund created last year remains unspent, along with $8.5 billion Congress allotted in March for medical care in rural areas.

With the coronavirus’s delta variant fueling a fourth pandemic surge, health-care institutions, lobbyists and lawmakers have ratcheted up complaints to senior Biden administration health officials, imploring them to decide how the money will be divided and when it will be distributed. ...

Federal health officials declined to discuss reasons for the delay, but HHS said in a statement: “We continue to work expeditiously to get these funds out the door and will be announcing another distribution of funds soon. Plans are being finalized.”

(HSS Secretary)Becerra has been asked repeatedly on Capitol Hill about the provider fund. In his most recent testimony, in June, he said that during the Trump administration, “there wasn’t enough transparency in the process, how the money was allotted. . . . We’re trying to provide that transparency, make sure we direct the money where it’s needed.”

The secretary did not address how the money could be redirected or when it might be released.

Pandemic relief laws that created the fund last year said the money should be used to help compensate health-care institutions and practitioners for extra expenses and loss of revenue attributable to the coronavirus. The laws do not specify how quickly the money must be spent. ...

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