FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement attributable to:
Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH
President and CEO
America’s Essential Hospitals
WASHINGTON—The administration’s release today of $3 billion in additional aid for hospitals providing safety-net care on the front lines of COVID-19 will help ease the severe financial pressure many face. But gaps remain, and more support is needed.
With COVID-19 cases rapidly rising across the country and hospital beds filling quickly, we should expect a continued pressing need for relief targeted to hospitals that care for our most vulnerable people. This is an unprecedented public health emergency that has taken a disproportionately heavy toll on the communities essential hospitals serve. It has put these hospitals in a precarious position that demands an ongoing commitment of federal support.
We appreciate the administration’s efforts to correct earlier funding gaps that left many essential hospitals without the support they need; but there is more work to do. We ask the administration to partner with us to ensure all hospitals providing safety-net care have the support they need to ride out this crisis and recover after it ends.
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About America’s Essential Hospitals
America’s Essential Hospitals is the leading champion for hospitals and health systems dedicated to high-quality care for all, including the most vulnerable. We support our more than 300 members with advocacy, policy development, research, and education. Communities depend on essential hospitals to provide specialized, lifesaving services; train the health care workforce; advance public health and health equity; and coordinate care. Essential hospitals innovate and adapt to lead the way to more effective and efficient care. Learn more at essentialhospitals.org.
Contact:
Carl Graziano
cgraziano@essentialhospitals.org
202.585.0102
