AHA, ANA urge Congress to quickly fund health care readiness for coronavirus

The AHA and American Nurses Association today urged Congress to “swiftly provide” $1 billion in initial supplemental emergency funding to support the “urgent preparedness and response needs of hospitals, health systems, physicians and nurses on the front lines” of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
 
“This supplemental emergency funding request from America’s hospitals, health systems, physicians and nurses is in addition to all of the other COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts Congress is considering funding, including public health, vaccine development, military quarantining efforts, public health surveillance and testing,” the organizations said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Ensuring safe care for patients, protecting health care professionals providing patient care, and supporting the health and safety of communities demand the combined efforts of the public health system, front line health care providers, and federal, state and local governments.”
 
They also urged that supplemental funding “not be offset by cutting other public health programs.”