The American Hospital Association (AHA) has asked Congress to provide more financial relief as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
The organization, which represents nearly 5,000 hospital, health system and other healthcare members, asked Congress to support the Biden administration’s request for federal support for vaccines and therapeutics, testing, research and funding that supports the uninsured. The group also asked for direct support and relief for healthcare providers.
The AHA’s plea comes as the U.S. is facing a new wave of the Omicron variant known as BA.2.
“The recent surge of cases and hospitalizations abroad fueled by the Omicron variant known as BA.2 serves as a critical warning: The battle is not over, and hospitals and health systems continue to need resources and flexibilities to care for patients and protect communities,” Stacey Hughes, AHA executive vice president, wrote in the letter.
Congress approved the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) during the early days of the pandemic in 2020 with the intention to help healthcare providers mitigate the ongoing financial losses. The PRF has been distributed with strict guidelines for providers, and $17 billion of PRF resources were distributed for other purposes.
However, despite a 49% increase in COVID-19 admissions during the Delta and Omicro variant surges, no distributions were made during these times. The two surges resulted in an increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
More urgently, the AHA urged Congress to address the upcoming Medicare payment reductions, which are currently scheduled to begin April 1. Due to these cuts, which were delayed previously because of the pandemic, hospitals would lose $3 billion by the end of the year, the organization stated.
“Now is not the time to be reducing payments to hospitals, especially with a new COVID-19 variant on the rise,” the letter stated. “We ask that you extend the Medicare sequester relief until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency or Dec. 31, 2022, whichever is later.”
In addition, AHA asked Congress to suspend repayments for healthcare providers that received relief from the Accelerated and Advance Payments Programs. The AHA’s final request was for Congress to continue waiving regulations that changed during the pandemic to allow healthcare providers the flexibility to deal with ongoing patient demands.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."