Urge Congress to Support Ebola Preparedness Funding for U.S.
Hospitals
Please contact your legislators and urge them to support the American Hospital
Association's $500 million funding request to help hospitals in their Ebola preparedness
and response. Legislators return to Washington on Dec. 2, to finalize an appropriations
package ahead of the expiration of current government funding on Dec. 11. Details of
the $500 million request are outlined below.
Preparedness Funding for Designated Treatment Centers. The majority of the funding
would go to hospitals designated as Ebola treatment centers to help in their
preparations. Over the past several months, these designated hospitals have incurred
enormous costs as they have prepared their facilities to care for Ebola patients.
Preparedness costs involve:
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Facility construction/renovation of space to meet required isolation standards
and air handling and purchase of mobile intensive care units;
Purchase of equipment, including laboratory instruments;
Purchase of additional personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff training
and to have sufficient PPE supplies in order to treat an Ebola patient;
Extensive staff training, exercises and drills;
Development of clinical treatment protocols; and
Lost revenue from taking existing beds out of service for standby capacity.
Funding for Ebola Treatment. Caring for an Ebola patient also is extremely costly. The
request is for additional support to supplement the costs of facilities that have cared or
will care for Ebola patients. Costs associated with treating an Ebola patient include:
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Facility construction/renovation of space to meet required isolation standards
and air handling and purchase of mobile intensive care units;
Purchase of equipment, including laboratory instruments;
Purchase of additional personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff training
and to have sufficient PPE supplies in order to treat an Ebola patient;
Extensive staff training, exercises and drills;
Development of clinical treatment protocols; and
Lost revenue from taking existing beds out of service for standby capacity.
Preparedness Funding for All Hospitals. The request also includes funding to help all
hospitals as they prepare to detect, isolate and transfer, as needed, suspected cases of
Ebola. Hospitals are incurring significant expenses, including costs associated with
ongoing staff training and education, and the purchase of additional PPE.
Please contact your legislators and urge them to support AHA's $500 million
funding request for Ebola preparedness and response.