Tester Sponsors Bill To Extend Health Care Relief Programs

As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in Montana, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., sponsored the Provider Relief Fund Deadline Extension Act to extend the deadline for eligible health care providers to use specific funds received from the COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund, which Tester fought to create as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

“Montana’s health care providers are on the frontline against this deadly virus, and it’s our job to ensure that they have the necessary resources to protect our state,” said Tester. “We’re seeing hospitals implementing crisis standards of care as the delta variant tears through Montana, and this legislation prevents critical health programs from expiring, giving the brave women and men of our health care community the tools they need to continue to save lives.

The Provider Relief Fund enables providers and facilities to better respond to COVID-19 through additional funding for provider payments, facility improvements, personal protective equipment, and other COVID-19 mitigation efforts. The deadline to use COVID-19 Provider Relief funding was June 30, 2021, but the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued their final guidance for the usage of funds after the deadline had passed, leaving several facilities with the inability to access and use funding. Tester’s legislation, which is supported by the Montana Hospital Association, will extend the deadline for usage of Provider Relief Funds until Dec. 31.

Montana led the nation in positive COVID-19 case increases per capita from Sept. 6-20, and several hospitals across the state are currently implementing, or preparing to implement, crisis standards of care, meaning that hospitals may not have the necessary resources to treat every patient.

Area Statistics

As of Sunday, Sept. 26, Roosevelt County has 11 active cases and zero current hospitalizations. There have been 57 COVID-related deaths reported in the county.

As of Thursday, Sept. 23, Valley County’s active count was 43 cases. There have been 1,035 total cases and 19 reported COVID-reported deaths.

Daniels County had six active cases as of Monday, Sept. 27. The county has 212 recovered cases and 227 cumulative cases. Nine deaths have occurred due to COVID-19 and/or complications.

In McCone County, there is one active case as of Monday, Sept. 27. There are 207 recovered cases. There have been two COVID-related deaths in the county.

Phillips County had 15 active cases as of Thursday, Sept. 23. There have been 571 recovered cases and 18 COVID-related deaths.

For Richland County, there are 57 active cases and 1,439 recovered cases as of Wednesday, Sept. 22. Total COVID-related deaths are 18. There have been 1,514 total cases.

Statewide According to Montana health officials, the state’s total number of known cases now stands at 147,287 since the start of the pandemic. There have been 1,797,580 tests conducted.

Around the state, there are 11,007 active cases. There are 415 active hospitalizations. By Monday, Sept. 27, a total of 1,973 deaths have been reported statewide. A total of 134,307 people have recovered.

Vaccine Doses In Roosevelt County, 7,338 total doses have been administered. There have been 3,574 or 42 percent fully immunizations.

As of Monday, Sept. 27, 994,979 total doses have been administered in Montana. There are 485,319 or 53 percent fully immunized Montanans.

The dashboard can be found at https://www.arcgis. com/apps/MapSeries/ index.html?appid=7c-34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b.