GOP Lawmakers Probe HHS Over Alleged Improper Distribution of COVID-19 Funds

Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), speaks during a press conference at the HHS headquarters in Washington, on June 28, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) have initiated an investigation in response to reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) improperly allocated COVID-19 relief funds intended to assist low-income hospitals.

In an April 11 letter (pdf) to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Republican lawmakers emphasized that the HHS funneled billions of taxpayer dollars to highly profitable hospitals in affluent areas, while rural hospitals struggled to provide quality care while facing bankruptcy. The committee requested all documents and communications pertaining to HHS’s decision-making process for funding hospitals and providers.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating recent reports of misallocated COVID-19 relief funds intended to help low-income hospitals. Instead of helping hospitals most in need, nearly $17 billion of COVID-19 relief funds went to hospitals with reported profits of more than $53 billion, while $35 billion went to hospitals that reported a loss of almost $130 billion,” the lawmakers wrote.

“It is crucial that we understand how the Department of Health and Human Services distributed these funds to hospitals that did not need it while hospitals in need received minimal benefit. We request documents and communications to assist the Committee’s oversight of HHS’s administration of COVID-19 relief funds to low-income hospitals.”

According to the letter, Congress gave $178 billion to hospitals and other health care providers through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Paycheck Protection and Health Care Enhancement Act, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

Of the $178 billion in this Provider Relief Fund (PRF), $16.7 billion went to 1,257 hospitals that made money. These hospitals made a total of $53.6 billion in profits.

On the other hand, 1,644 hospitals that lost money got only $35 billion from the PRF, even though they lost $129.1 billion during the same time period. Inova Health Systems in Northern Virginia, which got $186.1 million, cut more than 400 jobs and said it would make $255.5 million in profits in 2020 and 2021.

The lawmakers offered examples of some hospitals, including in Elmira, New York, where the Arnot Ogden Medical Center only received $18.5 million, even though it lost money in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic response.

“We are concerned about HHS’s decisions to provide PRF funds to highly profitable hospitals in wealthy areas while rural hospitals risked going bankrupt as they tried to provide care to Americans in need,” the lawmakers said.

HHS did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.