OPINION:
These are incredibly challenging times for the entire country. People are stressed, struggling and suffering from the health and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Thankfully, our nation’s effort to contain the spread is working. We have seen far fewer U.S. deaths than predicted. Yet the government has largely shut down the economy and suspended normal activity, upending countless lives and livelihoods.
Our nation’s hospitals and health-care workers are feeling enormous pressure. These health-care heroes fighting the virus on the frontlines are stretched to the breaking point.
Rural hospitals and the communities they serve must not become collateral damage in the coronavirus war. The permanent closure of a rural hospital can signal disaster for a rural community. Recruiting teachers, businesses and health care providers becomes almost impossible. America’s rural hospitals desperately need financial support to survive this existential threat.
I have spent most of my professional life in health care, practicing medicine as an orthopedic surgeon at the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, Wyoming. The heads of hospitals and health care providers have updated me throughout the crisis as they struggle to care for their communities. Their fiscal situation is unsustainable and must be addressed now.
On March 30, I led a bipartisan group of more than 120 Senate and House members in urgently requesting that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar provide immediate financial relief for rural hospitals across the country.
Rural hospitals are the backbone of thousands of communities, caring for 60 million Americans nationwide. The National Rural Health Association, a leading voice for rural health-care providers, is backing our bipartisan rescue operation for America’s rural hospitals.
Protecting this lifeline for patients in a time of crisis transcends Washington politics. As lawmakers noted in our joint letter to Secretary Azar, a number of rural hospitals have only days left of cash-on-hand — money urgently needed for payroll and supplies.
The massive CARES Act coronavirus emergency-relief bill included $100 billion to help the nation’s hospitals and health care providers. On April 10, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began delivering the first $30 billion in aid. This was an important first step.
In coming days, the next wave of coronavirus funds must be deployed. The health care providers on the frontlines of this pandemic need our full support. Congress has appropriated the funds, and HHS must continue to take swift, decisive action.
Given their tight operating margins, rural providers already faced serious economic challenges long before the outbreak began. Now they have been forced to put elective surgeries and other routine care on hold to handle the emergency.
Clearly, suspending non-emergency care is necessary. Hospitals and health care workers must focus their efforts on stopping COVID-19 and conserving the personal protective equipment needed for treating patients with the virus.
As a doctor, I know these decisions have a crippling financial effect on hospitals, especially rural providers. That’s why we are starting to see furloughs and layoffs as community hospitals put the emergency needs of their communities ahead of their own.
While I applaud HHS for quickly delivering the first $30 billion in hospital aid, Secretary Alex Azar must speed additional relief to rural hospitals, nursing homes and other struggling providers.
It is the duty of the federal government to help rural health care workers weather this storm. We cannot afford to ignore these brave men and women who are making a tremendous sacrifice to care for their patients in our country’s hour of need.
We are starting to see promising signs that we are defeating the virus and may soon be able to reopen the economy. It is critical for HHS to deliver the rest of this live-saving assistance.
Let’s get this money out the door now.
• John Barrasso, a Republican U.S. senator from Wyoming, is an orthopedic surgeon and chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
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