Auburn Community Hospital awarded $10 million in federal funding for COVID-19 costs

AUBURN, N.Y. — Auburn Community Hospital (ACH) will use a federal award of more than $10 million to cover costs associated with the hospital’s COVID-19 response.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded the funding, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) announced.

The funding reimburses the hospital for expenses related to temporary medical staffing to deal with a “substantial increase” in patient load, increased severity and length of stay, establishment of a separate COVID-19 unit, and backfill of employees moved to COVID-19 care units, Schumer’s office said.

The money will help cover the cost of temporary staff hired at the height of the pandemic. The staff included registered nurses, license practical nurses, medical technicians, respiratory therapists, and other personnel essential to combatting the spread of COVID-19.

This funding is provided at a 100 percent federal cost share. The money is in addition to more than $2.2 million in FEMA funding that the lawmakers announced for ACH last year, Schumer’s office noted. That funding covered costs associated with emergency protective measures taken for the hospital’s COVID responses dating back to the start of the pandemic in spring 2020.

Those funds helped reimburse ACH for expenses related to COVID-19 testing, supplies, and medications for treating COVID-19 positive patients admitted to the hospital.