SANTA FE – Rural hospitals that have suspended non-urgent procedures while bracing for a surge in coronavirus patients have begun receiving a temporary financial lifeline from the federal government, members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation announced.
U.S. Rep Xochitl Torres Small and Sen. Martin Heinrich said in a statement Wednesday that the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City will receive an advance Medicare payment of $6.8 million.
Rural hospitals and clinics are being starved of usual income as they postpone elective surgeries and procedures to open up beds and equipment for a likely upswing in patients infected with COVID-19.
State health officials said New Mexico had 16 deaths and 865 cases as of Wednesday.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
A state public health declaration bans nonessential business and outings, while testing for the coronavirus has been expanded to people without symptoms in nursing homes and those likely to have been exposed to infected people.
The accelerated Medicare payments to hospitals and clinics are an outcome of the most recent coronavirus aid package and its $100 billion grant program for medical providers to cover lost revenues linked to the pandemic.
Under the stimulus package, medical facilities such as acute care hospitals and some cancer hospitals can request six-month advances on payments from Medicare, the national health insurance program for Americans older than 65. Critical access hospitals can request up to 125%.
