Sen. Cassidy announces more than $200M in COVID-19 funding for Louisiana hospitals

Victoria Cristina

4 years ago

A subject receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine by Moderna for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle in March.. According to results released on Tuesday, early-stage testing showed the first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems the way scientists had hoped. The vaccine is made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

WASHINGTON – On Friday, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) announced that Louisiana hospitals are receiving nearly $224 million in federal funding to continue their fight against COVID-19.

The funding is part of $10 billion that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing in a second round of payments to high-impact areas. Louisiana is receiving $223,580,330 to be disbursed to 47 facilities. The individual recipients have not been released.

“COVID-19 is on the rise, meaning that more patients will need services these hospitals provide. This funding is critical to Louisiana’s doctors and nurses’ ability to save lives,” said Dr. Cassidy.

“The top priority for HHS’s administration of the Provider Relief Fund has been getting support as quickly as possible to providers who have been hit hard by COVID-19,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “Because we’ve carefully targeted support, we can make payments to areas most in need as the pandemic evolves, like we are doing with this round of funds.”