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Higgins: Over $65 million in COVID-19 hotspot funding awarded to local hospitals

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Mon, May 11th 2020 10:05 am

Over the weekend, Congressman Brian Higgins announced Western New York hospitals will receive more than $65.4 million in federal funding designated for the nation’s health care facilities hardest hit by COVID-19 cases.

“There is no doubt that every hospital in the region has over-extended its resources to care for those (who) have fallen ill due to coronavirus and to keep our frontline health care workers equipped and protected,” Higgins said. “This distribution is specifically directed to the hospitals that served the highest number of patients in the early stages of the pandemic. We will continue to fight for additional health care resources to save lives.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released $10 billion for rural hospitals and $12 billion for hospitals with high COVID admissions. All hospitals awarded hotspot funding provided inpatient care to 100 or more COVID-19 patients through April 10. A total of 395 hospitals nationwide and four hospitals in Western New York received federal funds:

The CARES Act, approved by Congress on March 27, included $100 billion to support hospitals and other health care providers. On April 10, the first $30 billion was distributed. The second round of funding, $20 billion, was released on Friday, April 24.

Higgins previously announced $71.87 million for local hospitals during those distribution cycles. Further funding announcements from HHS based on legislation approved by Congress to help all hospitals and health providers treating COVID-19 patients is expected.

“Since the pandemic hit, Congressman Higgins has been relentless in his pursuit to help the hospitals here in our community,” said Jody Lomeo, president and CEO of Kaleida Health. “While we have been rightly focused on taking care of our patients and keeping our employees safe, these much-needed dollars will help us rebuild the financial health of our organization which has been battered by COVID-19. We are grateful for his leadership and thank the entire New York state congressional delegation for ensuring hotspot funding for Western New York.”

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