HHS to Release an Additional $10B to Hospitals in ‘High-Impact’ Areas

Highlights

• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it will deliver an additional $10 billion in federal relief dollars to hospitals in coronavirus hot spots areas as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the South and overwhelm hospitals.
• The money is set to go out as early as Monday, July 20 following HHS call for additional data to determine which hospitals are eligible based on a formula that takes into account COVID-19 admissions through June 10.

HHS said its second round of hot spot funding will reimburse providers who cared for a disproportionately high number of patients with the disease through June 10.

More than 1,000 hospitals will receive funding from this tranche of money and impact hospitals in nearly every state across the country.

The most funding is going to Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania where hospitals are receiving a total of $740 million, $683.6 million and $654.6 million, respectively.

HHS previously notified hospitals in June about plans to distribute a second round of funding to high-impact areas. To determine eligibility, HHS asked them to submit data on COVID-19 positive inpatient admissions between January and June.

Officials said the funding was based on a formula for hospitals with more than 161 COVID-19 admissions during that time period—or one admission per day—or those that experienced a disproportionate intensity of COVID-19 admissions. Hospitals will be paid $50,000 per eligible admission.

The first round of funding was based on a formula that distributed funds to hospitals with 100 or more COVID-19 admissions between Jan. 1 and April 10 and paid $76,975 per eligible admission.