NEW YORK’S hospitals are warning the COVID-19 pandemic will cost them billions of dollars in revenue as patients remain fearful of returning to health care settings. The state Legislature held a hearing Wednesday on the coronavirus’ ongoing impact on hospitals and the health care system, whose top leaders testified about a massive drop in revenue caused by a temporary ban on elective procedures and patients who remain wary. One major hospital trade group, the Healthcare Association of New York State, or HANYS, said lost revenue and extra costs could total between $20 billion and $25 billion from the start of the pandemic into next April, though that figure doesn’t take federal aid and certain cost-cutting measures into account. Ken Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, put it a different way. ‘Every hospital in New York state is going to lose money this year,’ he said. ‘The question is how much.’” USA Today Network’s Jon Campbell

 

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