The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) is aimed at providing relief for individuals and businesses that have been negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The legislation contains many aspects and recipient categories, with healthcare being a major beneficiary.
Although the CARES Act provides much-needed relief for our nation’s healthcare systems, this assistance might not be sufficient to cover the following:
- Significant reductions in patient volume and net revenue. Based on outpatient volume and revenue data for March 11-25, 2020, Crowe projects a $500 million per day decline in outpatient net revenue for hospitals on a national basis.1
- Unclear patient volumes during April. With most elective procedures being postponed during the pandemic, the intensity of care and resulting reimbursement are not expected to match the traditional medical/surgical mix.
- Additional expenses related to aggressive preparation. Challenging situations – involving both labor (at-risk clinicians and patient-facing administrative personnel) and nonlabor (insufficient access to needed supplies) – create daily hardships for hospital operations leaders.