In the News

SPRINGFIELD -- Hospitals across Massachusetts will receive more than $841 million in federal funds under the CARES Act Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal announced Monday.

The $841 million, sent Friday to 8,746 health care providers, includes $32.1 million for Springfield based Baystate Health. Neal, D-Springfield, is chairman of the powerful House Committee on Ways & Means.

Nationally, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services distributed $30 billion to more than 318,000 health care providers nationally in what's expected to be only the first of a series of payments.

The money is meant to patch budgets ravaged by the impact of coronavirus, patients afflicted by it and by the loss of revenue from health care procedures that can't happen due to stay-at-home and shutdown orders meant to arrest its spread.

“Hospitals and other health care providers in Massachusetts are experiencing tremendous strain as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis and care for an influx of extremely sick patients,” said Congressman Neal. “This infusion of federal funds will help providers stay afloat during the unprecedented coronavirus emergency and get the resources they need to keep frontline health care workers safe. I’m proud to have been an author of the CARES Act, and I will continue to support our state’s health care providers as Congress crafts additional COVID-19 response legislation.”

The federal government is dividing the money among providers based on the provider’s share of total Medicare fee-for-service reimbursements in 2019. This explains why Baystate, the region’s largest provider of those services, is getting the biggest chunk of money.

Baystate Health spokeswoman Shelly Hazlett said on Monday that the money will only be used on activities related to fighting COVID-19.

Last week, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced more than $800 million in aid from the state to hospitals. According to a news release, the majority of this funding will support 28 safety net and high-Medicaid hospitals, to address lost revenue and increased costs for hospitals treating patients with COVID-19.

Hospitals, including Trinity Health New England, owners of Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, have announced layoffs of workers from departments not dealing with coronavirus response in order to balance their new budgets.

Neal said in a news release that among those recipients in the First District are:

• Berkshire Health Systems - $15,000,000
• Baystate Health – $32,100,000
• Harrington Hospital – $2,400,000
• Mercy Medical Center – $5,700,000
• Holyoke Medical Center – $2,900,000

A state-by-state breakdown of the delivery of the initial $30 billion of CARES Act Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund is available HERE.

The $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package passed and signed into law in March includes $454 billion in guaranteed subsidized loans to larger industries and $150 billion for the nation’s health care system.