Covid Money Goes To Covid Facilities

By Walter F. Roche Jr.
Some $245 million in federally funded Covid-19 aid for nursing homes has been distributed by Pennsylvania officials to dozens of health facilities that include several that are publicly owned and many that have seen dozens of their patients succumb to the pandemic.
The money, allotted by the federal government, has been distributed under the provisions of a Pennsylvania statute approved by the legislature and signed by Gov. Tom Wolf.
Recipients of the funds include a Beaver County nursing home where 73 patients have succumbed to the coronavirus.
A little over $1.8 million was allocated to the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center.
One of the highest single grants, a little over $2 million went to Cedarbrook Senior Care and Rehabilitation, a Lehigh County run facility with two locations. Data on the number of Covid-19 cases at the facilities were not immediately available.
The Fair Acres Geriatric Center in Delaware County has reported 81 Covid deaths. The grants to the facility total more than $2.5 million, the highest of any one facility.
According to state officials and the Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA), which represents nursing homes, the $245 million was distributed under two separate allocation formulae.
Some 80 percent or $196 million of the total was distributed based on the number of days each facility provided to Medicaid recipients in the third quarter of 2019.
The remaining $59 million was distributed based on the number of beds in each eligible nursing home.
PHCA spokeswoman Shayna Varner said the full $245 million has been distributed to Pennsylvania nursing homes.
Erin James, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, said nursing homes not participating in the Medical Assistance program also can qualify for funds by submitting required forms.
"I’m told some of those payments are in process," she added.
Other major recipients in the Medicaid category include the Conestoga View Nursing Home in Lancaster which was awarded $1.5 million from the two programs. Seventy-seven Conestoga patients have died during the ongoing pandemic.
Another public owned facility, Northampton County Home-Gracedale, which has reported 76 Covid-19 deaths has been granted $2.4 million through the two allocation systems.
Still other recipients include Parkhouse Rehabilitation and Nursing in Royersford where 52 deaths have been recorded. The facility got $1.3 million in coronavirus funding.
The city owned Philadelphia Nursing Home got more than $1 million in Covid funding. The facility has reported nine Covid deaths.
The Pleasant Acres Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in York, where 13 Covid deaths have been recorded, was allotted more than $1.1 million.