CT hospitals will receive $329 million in hot spot aid

WASHINGTON — Twelve Connecticut hospitals will soon receive $329 million in federal funding for providing in-patient treatment for high numbers of coronavirus patients.

The highly-anticipated “hot spot” funding is heading to 395 hospitals across the country that had 100 or more COVID-19 inpatient admissions from Jan. 1 to April 10, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday. These hospitals accounted for 71 percent of COVID-19 inpatient admissions reported to HHS from nearly 6,000 hospitals around the country, the Department said.

"New York, New Jersey, and Illinois received the most funding by states, while New York, New York; Bronx, New York; and

Cook, Illinois received the most funding by county as determined by our metrics," said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Friday.

HHS sent a total of $10 billion to the 395 “hot spot” hospitals, with an additional $2 billion designated for the care of uninsured and low-income patients at these hospitals.

“We are pleased that HHS has begun distributing funds specifically targeted to those hospitals that have treated a significant number of COVID-19 patients,” said Paul Kidwell, senior vice president of Policy for the Connecticut Hospital Association. “The formula used for this distribution, however, failed to provide relief to a number of hospitals that are in great need. We will continue to seek additional funds for all hospitals across the state as distributions to date do not yet meet the relief required.”

In addition, 16 Connecticut rural hospitals and clinics are receiving a total of $16.2 million in funding from HHS, intended to lift these facilities, many of which were operating on thin margins prior to coronavirus.

Neither HHS nor other sources were able to immediately say on Tuesday which Connecticut hospitals and clinics would receive the funds.

Stamford Health, which operates Stamford Hospital, Nuvance Health, which operates Danbury, Norwalk and New Milford hospitals, and Yale New Haven Health, which operates Yale New Haven Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital and others, said through spokespeople that they have not received the funds yet, but expected to this week. The health systems did not know how much funding they would be receiving.

HHS had already sent $260 million to support Connecticut hospitals overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic in April, but those payments did not account for how the coronavirus impacted hospitals and health systems.

Hospitals have seen their expenses climb as they provide expensive acute care to COVID-19 patients, while buying personal protective equipment and testing supplies in hot demand. Their revenues have been slashed by the cancellation of elective procedures and office visits. Hospitals and health systems in Connecticut are projected to lose $1.5 billion this fiscal year alone, said Mark Schaefer, vice president of System Innovation and Financing for the Connecticut

Hospital Association.

“The primary focus of our Health System has been on caring for COVID and non-COVID patients alike, so we have not quantified the full financial impact of the pandemic with any degree of certainty,” said Vin Petrini, senior vice president of Public Affairs for Yale New Haven Health. “However, without federal assistance, we can safely say that it will have a significant impact.”

Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, which includes some Connecticut hospitals, thanked the administration for the funds.

"The remarkable selfsacrifice and dedication of our health care workers took place in an environment that was oftentimes likened to wartime conditions," Raske said. "At enormous financial cost, our hospitals literally prevented the health care delivery system from collapsing.”

Congress has appropriated $175 billion in federal aid for hospitals, less than half of which has been distributed so far. Lawmakers and hospital associations said the process for distributing the funds has been opaque and confusing, with hospitals typically unsure of when federal aid will arrive — or how much — until it shows up in their accounts.

The hospitals will receive hotspot payments based on their number of coronavirus admissions and the number of low-income and uninsured patients they cared for. Hospitals and clinics in rural areas will get a minimum base payment plus a percent of their annual expenses.