Treasury Department opens small business aid program to public hospitals
The U.S. Treasury Department has loosened guidelines for coronavirus aid so that public hospitals can be apply as small businesses for federal assistance.
President Donald Trump signed legislation Friday to provide an additional $250 billion in funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, set up to allow small businesses to keep employees on their payrolls as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cripple the economy.
Public hospitals were excluded from a previous round of funding for the program, which is offered to businesses with less than 500 employees, while private hospitals were eligible.
But on Friday, the Treasury Department announced it would allow public hospitals to apply for loans from the program as long as they receive less than 50 % of their funding from state or local government, excluding Medicaid dollars.
The change comes after advocacy from Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican who led a bipartisan group of senators from mostly rural states seeking the exemption. It allow roughly 60 hospitals in Kansas to apply for the aid that were previously ineligible.
Hospitals across the country have experienced steep revenue losses as they’ve canceled elective procedures during the pandemic.
“Many of the rural hospitals across Kansas are publicly owned and are barely breaking even on a good day,” Moran said in a statement Friday. “This pandemic has forced many of these hospitals to cut back on non-critical services which has led to a dramatic loss of revenue. This administrative fix is crucial to keeping hospitals open and making certain Kansans will still have access to medical care in their own communities when this crisis is over.”
The senator told reporters on a press call Friday morning that he was still in the process of lobbying the Treasury Department a few hours before the change was officially announced.
In addition to the small business loans, the bill Trump signed Friday will provide $75 billion in aid specifically for hospitals.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 2:50 PM.
