Shore Medical Center Somers Point.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
SOMERS POINT – Shore Medical Center in Atlantic County and Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May County have been cut out of federal funding, despite abiding by guidance from federal and state governments to discontinue elective surgeries and non-emergent services to focus on COVID-19 patients.
According to Spokesman Brian Cahill, Shore Medical Center had 61 patients treated for COVID-19, with 36 of them admitted before the April 10 deadline set by the federal government to receive aid.
“You had to have 100 patients by April 10, but as of that date only 61 were confirmed to have COVID-19,” Cahill said. “But we had been treating patients through the flu season starting in January, February and March. It’s very likely we were treating people who had the coronavirus prior to the deadline, but we didn’t know that because we didn’t have test kits until March 17.”
Cahill said the hospital eliminated surgeries and other non-essential procedures that would have generated revenue for the medical center “because it was the right thing to do,” he said.
The reasoning was to ensure the safety of the staff and public, and to allocate every resource possible to protect the frontline clinicians and to treat patients infected with the COVID-19 virus. Discontinuing those services proved to be financially “crippling” to the hospital.
“With no revenue coming in for elective surgeries and procedures, hospitals took measures that included staff reductions in non-clinical areas and salary adjustments,” he said in a statement.
The Department of Health and Human Services May 1 awarded $12 billion to 395 hospitals that provided inpatient care for 100 or more COVID-19 patients through April 10, and $10 billion was awarded to rural hospitals, many of which were already operating on thin margins prior to COVID-19 and have also been particularly devastated by this pandemic, the statement said.
Cahill said both hospitals followed federal and state guidelines to protect staff and patients and by shutting down services, have lost millions.
He did not disclose how much revenue the medical center has lost since shutting down services.
If the patients with COVID-19 symptoms seen prior to obtaining test kits were counted, both hospitals would likely have exceeded the minimum 100 required cases and received the funding they deserved.
“Instead, they, their patients, and their staff have been forgotten,” Cahill said.
Cahill contends the funding should go to help hospitals recover from the loss of revenue, not just the number of patients treated.
“The funding is supposed to help hospitals that suffered financially due to the crisis,” Cahill said. “When it came time for this wave of funding, we were cut out of it.”
Cahill said U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew is aware of the hospitals’ plights. Attempts to reach the congressman were unsuccessful.
Cahill is asking members of the community to call U.S. Sens. Corey Booker and Robert Menendez to advocate for funding South Jersey hospitals hard-hit by the pandemic.
“We have been blessed to have received generous support from members of the community. They have been making contributions and bringing food to the staff, but it would be nice to have the federal government’s support as well,” he said.
South Jersey cases have been relatively low, “but whether it was one patient treated or 100, Shore and Cape Regional embraced the same risk as every other hospital.”
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