July 22 Joint AHA/AMA/ANA Letter to Capitol Hill

July 22, 2020

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate
U.S. Capitol Building, S230
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Charles E. Schumer
Democratic Leader
U.S. Senate
U.S. Capitol Building, S221
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Leader McConnell and Leader Schumer:

America’s front line health care personnel continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic as it continues to spike in numerous states including Texas, Florida, California and Arizona. The number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase across the country at rates exceeding those during the Spring of 2020, and we are concerned additional COVID-19 spikes in other states in the near future will continue to stress the entire health care system.

Physicians, nurses, hospitals and health systems all across the country are incurring expenses due to sourcing and purchasing additional and potentially more expensive supplies and equipment, when available; standing up emergency operations centers; providing higher staffing levels and backfilling when necessary; providing housing and care for patients who do not require hospitalization but do not have housing in order to prevent spread of COVID-19; and construction or retrofitting facilities.

Front line health care providers are experiencing significant financial losses due to the decrease of inpatient and outpatient services. In some communities where COVID-19 is spiking, hospitals again have stopped providing non-essential surgeries to ensure there is increased capacity for COVID-19 patients, resulting in additional significant financial loss. For outpatient providers, there continues to be decreased demand for services, and those offices and facilities that are open are scheduling fewer patients due to social distancing precautions while incurring higher expenses for scarce personal protective equipment and other supplies. This is causing severe financial stress on physicians, nurses, hospitals and health systems.

HThe entire nation is counting on hospitals and health systems, physicians and nurses to remain strong and resilient as our country battles this pandemic. We are asking for Congress to allocate as part of the next COVID-19 relief package at least an additional $100 billion to the emergency relief fund to provide direct funding to front line health care personnel and providers, including nurses, doctors, hospitals and health systems, to continue to respond to this pandemic. We ask that Congress direct the Department of Health and Human Services to infuse these funds as soon as possible so that health care providers can continue to provide care to their patients and communities.

We thank you for your ongoing leadership as we battle COVID-19 together.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Pollack
President and CEO
AHA

Sincerely,
James L. Madara
CEO and Executive Vice President
AMA

Sincerely,
Loressa Cole
Enterprise CEO
ANA

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