Becker's ASC Review

102 HEALTHCARE NEWS 11 hospitals return $192M in CARES Act payments By Ayla Ellison C ongress allocated $175 billion in relief aid to hospitals and other healthcare providers to cover expenses and lost revenues tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, a portion of which was dedicated to hospitals hardest hit by the pandemic. HHS has distributed two rounds of high-im- pact payments to hospitals that treated large numbers of COVID-19 patients. In the first round, $12 billion was distributed to nearly 400 hospitals that provided inpatient care for 100 or more COVID-19 patients between Jan. 1 and April 10. e second round, which totaled $10 billion, was split among hospitals that had more than 161 COVID-19 admis- sions between Jan. 1 and June 10 or that experienced a disproportionate intensity of COVID-19 admissions. In May and June, 11 hospitals declined their high-impact payments and returned the funds, according to CDC data updated Aug. 3. e refunded payments totaled $191.7 million. Below are the hospitals that returned their payments. Coosa Valley Medical Center (Sylacauga, Ala.) Grant amount: $8.7 million Funds returned May 21 Drew Memorial Health System (Monticello, Ark.) Grant amount: $8.9 million Funds returned May 15 HSHS St. John's Hospital (Springfield, Ill.) Grant amount: $27.9 million Funds returned May 13 Los Angeles Medical Center Grant amount: $8.6 million Funds returned May 28 M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital (Edina, Minn.) Grant amount: $8 million Funds returned May 26 M Health Fairview St. Joseph's Hospital (Saint Paul, Minn.) Grant amount: $24.3 million Funds returned May 26 M Health Fairview University of Minne- sota Medical Center-West Bank (Minne- apolis) Grant amount: $17.2 million Funds returned May 26 Memorial Hospital at Gulfport (Miss.) Grant amount: $15.4 million Funds returned May 11 Springhill Medical Center (Mobile, Ala.) Grant amount: $10.1 million Funds returned May 13 Tanner Medical Center - Carrollton (Ga.) Grant amount: $35.2 million Funds returned June 3 Tanner Medical Center - Villa Rica (Ga.) Grant amount: $27.4 million Funds returned June 3 n 'I'm fighting a war against COVID-19 and a war against stupidity,' says CMO of Houston hospital By Molly Gamble A fter two hours of sleep a night for four months and seeing a member of his team contract COVID-19, Joseph Varon, MD, is growing exasperated. "I'm pretty much fighting two wars: A war against COVID and a war against stupidity," Dr. Varon, CMO and chief of critical care at United Memorial Medical Center in Hous- ton, told NBC News in late July. "And the problem is the first one, I have some hope about winning. But the second one is becoming more and more difficult." Dr. Varon noted that whether it's information backed by science or common sense, people throughout the U.S. are not listening. "The thing that annoys me the most is that we keep on doing our best to save all these people, and then you get another batch of people that are doing exactly the opposite of what you're telling them to do." In an interview with NPR, Dr. Varon said he has woken up at dawn every day for the past four months and has headed to the hospital. There, he spends six to 12 hours on rounds before seeing new admissions. He then returns home to sleep two hours, at most. He said his staff is physically and emotionally drained. UMMC nurse Christina Mathers spoke with NBC News from a hospital bed in the segment, noting that she had recently tested positive for COVID-19 after not feeling well during one of her shifts. "All the fighting, all the screaming, all the finger pointing — enough is enough," Ms. Mathers told NBC. "People just need to listen to us. We're not going to lie. Why would we lie?" Ms. Mathers had worked every other day since April 29, according to The Atlantic, which created a photo essay of Dr. Varon and the UMMC team at work. n

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