Schumer calls on feds to reimburse Upstate University Hospital, others for Ebola response

The federal government should reimburse Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, and several other New York hospitals, for their efforts in preparing to handle any cases of Ebola.

That’s what U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) called for in a news release posted Thursday on his website.

Upstate University Hospital’s capital costs for preparing for Ebola totaled between $1.2 million and $1.6 million, according to the Schumer news release.

The senator wants the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure that all of New York’s hospitals “are not overlooked” when using new funding to reimburse hospitals nationwide.

The recently passed fiscal-year 2015 omnibus-budget bill included more than $5.4 billion in new funding for the Ebola response. Of that figure, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell will determine how to spend $700 million in the next two weeks, Schumer explained in his release.

“New York’s Ebola Treatment Centers and all of the state’s hospitals quickly and meticulously answered the call of duty to handle the Ebola threat by training thousands of healthcare workers, preparing isolation units, purchasing new equipment and more, and they cannot be left behind when it comes to being reimbursed for this critical, but expensive work,” Schumer said in the news release. “Securing over $700 million in Ebola funding for [HHS] was only the first step, and now I am urging Secretary Burwell to ensure that New York’s hospitals be prioritized as a plan is developed for how this money will be spent. Even though these facilities have not treated an Ebola patient, the costs of being prepared have been extremely high in order to ready for a potential patient.”

Upstate University Hospital is among the five designated Ebola treatment centers in the Upstate and Hudson Valley regions. They also included the University of Rochester Medical Center, Erie County Medical Center, Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, and Westchester Medical Center.

Burwell has discretion on how to spend the funding. The federal government has a “variety of ways” to spend the money, including vaccine development, reimbursement of hospitals that treated Ebola patients, and reimbursement for renovations, training, and other work at designated Ebola-treatment centers, according to the Schumer release.

However, since the HHS doesn’t have a “formula” to use on how to divide this money, Schumer urged Secretary Burwell to ensure that the government reimburses the five designated Ebola-treatment centers for the close to $4 million they spent.

In addition, HHS could also reimburse all other New York hospitals, which spent an average of $40,000 each on training and equipment to comply with New York health regulations, Schumer added.