SMH receives COVID-19 government aid

Stephens Memorial Hospital District announced that the hospital and nursing home has received significant funding from the government to aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The acceptance of the assistance was announced during the Monday, April 27 board meeting as a portion of the funding comes from the Texas Health and Human Services. The state department has provided the hospital with $626,000 to be split between the hospital district and the nursing home within Stephens County.

The hospital has retained about $200,000 and the aid is apart of the federal government’s stimulus package. Seventy-five percent of the funds must be spent on payroll and the other 25 percent can be spent on healthcare, utilities, etc. All the funds are forgivable if spent within an eight week period.

With the passage of the Rural Health Care Relief Act on April 22, rural hospitals now qualify for the paycheck protection program. While qualifying for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), SMH will  bring back employees who seen hours reduced or were furloughed due to the pandemic.

The hospital also applied for an EIDL loan through the Small Business Administration. The hospital receives up to $10,000 for applying and based on criteria will receive up to 1.3 million over 10 years. The hospital doesn’t have to accept the loan, but has applied.

SMH has applied for and received funding as apart of the Medicare Advance payment program. The program is an advance on future billings, and includes no interest and may be forgivable. The hospital qualifies for $1.2 million and the program is an advance on Medicare payments.

The amount received is based on previous actual cash collected from Medicare payment. The hospital received four months of Medicare cash and have 12 months to repay the advance.