St. Joe’s to receive $12.6M in CARES Act funding
NASHUA – This week, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Representative Annie Kuster (NH-02) announced that St. Joseph Hospital will receive $12,628,962 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Provider Relief Fund.
The funding was allocated as an add-on payment to the previous round of disbursements from the Provider Relief Fund. Add-on payments are awarded to account for revenue losses and expenses attributable to COVID-19.
The funding is part of $175 billion in health care provider grant appropriations allocated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act to help Granite State health care providers to manage the health and financial challenges they face on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Hampshire health care providers have now received more than $460 million from the Provider Relief Fund, as well as an additional $689 million in loans through the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments Program.
“As one of Nashua and the southern tier’s premier health care providers, St. Joseph Hospital has played a critical role in the fight against COVID-19,” Shaheen said. “Staff are working tirelessly each day and around the clock to provide lifesaving care and treatment to Granite Staters.”
As a frontline provider in one of the hardest-hit areas in the state, Shaheen said that St. Joe’s has “grappled with a significant number of COVID cases and hospitalizations and is facing overwhelming health and financial challenges.”
Shaheen added that the funding will provide much needed financial relief during the pandemic.
“I’ll keep fighting for the funding that our providers in every part of the state need to combat COVID-19 and provide care to our impacted communities,” she said.
Hassan praised the work that St. Joe’s does every day, calling their work, “heroic.”
“This $12.6 million in federal funding to St. Joseph will go a long way to help their front line workers continue to provide high-quality care to patients in one of the hardest-hit regions of our state,” Hassan said. “I will continue working with members of the delegation to secure much-needed funding for health care providers across New Hampshire and help contain the spread of this deadly virus.”
Kuster echoed the senators’ sentiments regarding the work that St. Joe’s has been doing since the onset of COVID-19 eleven months ago.
“Health care providers in New Hampshire and across the country have been on the frontlines of this pandemic since our nation’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 more than a year ago, and it is critical that they have our full support during this unprecedented time,” Kuster said. “Since the pandemic began, St. Joseph Hospital has been providing lifesaving care to Granite Staters in one of the hardest-hit regions of the state. This CARES Act funding will help health care professionals at Joseph Hospital continue to provide care and services to people in need in the southern tier. I will continue working to ensure New Hampshire has the resources and support it needs to get through this pandemic.”
St. Joseph Hospital president John A. Jurczyk expressed his gratitude, saying, “I want to express our thanks to our legislative delegation on behalf of the staff, providers and especially the patients at St. Joseph Hospital. We are truly grateful for their support and hard work. This add-on award will provide us with a significant measure of relief that will allow us to continue to help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in our community.”