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Federal aid for North Country hospitals falls short

SARANAC LAKE — New York hospitals have received more than $1.4 billion in federal aid as part of the latest round of funding through the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. But for North Country hospitals, revenue shortfalls continue to outpace incoming aid.

Fifteen hospital networks in New York’s 21st Congressional District have collectively received $33,227,000 from CARES Act so far, Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office announced Monday, April 27.

For Adirondack Health, based in Saranac Lake, this means $2,073,000 in federal aid; for the Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, $1,641,000; and for Elizabethtown Community Hospital and its Ticonderoga Campus at the former Moses-Ludington Hospital, $657,000.

But the aid is a fraction of the total losses those hospital systems are facing. State directives to cancel elective surgeries — on which hospitals rely for revenue — and increase intensive care unit capacity, intended to increase capacity for an expected influx of COVID-19 patients, have left many upstate hospitals with empty beds and multi-million-dollar losses.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday acknowledged that initial projections that showed a need for 120,000 hospital beds haven’t come to fruition. He credited that to successful social distancing and efforts to flatten the curve.

“Our high point was 20,000 (hospitalizations),” Cuomo said during his daily press briefing, this time from the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

Cuomo has also said hospitals in certain regions would be able to restart some elective surgeries as early as Tuesday, April 28, though patients would be required to test negative for COVID-19 before scheduling a procedure. Because testing in this area has been severely restricted for more than a month, it’s unclear how large of a boost the restarting of elective surgeries will be for local hospitals.

Adirondack Health is expected to lose upward of $4.6 million this month alone, according to spokesman Matt Scollin. That’s on top of $1.4 million lost in March. Alice Hyde could face an $11 million deficit by the end of September, according to President Michelle LeBeau. And though ECH President John Remillard didn’t specify how much his hospital would lose, he has said it would need at least $1.5 million in federal support each month.

“The postponement of elective procedures and increased expenses to prepare for COVID-19 created incredible financial pressures for all health care providers,” ECH spokeswoman Elizabeth Rogers said. “We appreciate the support of our state and federal governments, but also recognize that the extent of this pandemic will require even more.”

More funding is expected to come in the next few days, according to Schumer’s office.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been tasked with disbursing funding that remains from the initial $100 billion CARES Act provider relief fund passed by Congress last month, as well as an additional $75 billion for hospitals Congress approved this month.

HHS faced criticism from across party lines because of how the first round of CARES Act funding was allocated. The department divided the first 30% of the funding based on traditional Medicare payments received in 2019, a decision that was expected to let it disburse funds more rapidly. But lawmakers in both major parties said that way benefits hospitals with larger populations rather than those most burdened by COVID-19 caseloads, or those facing the largest revenue losses.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, reached out to HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan and asked that the department update its formula after the first round of funding didn’t meet the current needs of rural hospitals in the district.

In the aid package passed this month, Congress left it to HHS to determine how to allocate the new $75 billion in aid.

The remaining funding from last month’s CARES Act package will be disbursed based on 2019 program service revenue, hospitals’ most recent tax return and hospitals’ estimated revenue losses in March and April due to COVID-19, according to HHS.

“We’re very appreciative of Congresswoman Stefanik’s advocacy, along with fellow members of the New York congressional delegation, in requesting HHS rethink the allocation formula,” Scollin said. “We have a long way to go to get back to normal, but with the support of our communities, our donors and our elected officials, we’ll get there eventually.”

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