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Two Centre County Facilities to Receive Funds from $225 Million Pa. Health Care Worker Legislation

Two Centre County facilities are slated to benefit from a bipartisan bill allocating more than $200 million to Pennsylvania hospitals and inpatient behavioral health facilities for the recruitment and retention of health care workers.

Mount Nittany Medical Center will receive $740,000 and The Meadows Psychiatric Center will receive $521,000 as a result of House Bill 253, according to state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, and House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte.

The legislation, which appropriates $225 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to support Pennsylvania’s health care workforce, was signed by Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday after passage by the House and Senate earlier in the week.

“Three weeks ago, my administration convened a working group including all four caucuses to identify immediate investments to support the health care workforce overburdened by staffing shortages after years of battling the [COVID-19] pandemic on the front lines,” Wolf said in a statement. “Together, Democrats and Republicans came together in a bipartisan effort to address this issue through House Bill 253. I am proud to sign this critical legislation into law to support our health care workforce and ensure Pennsylvanians can continue to receive quality care for emergency health issues and life-saving procedures.”

The bill distributes $100 million to licensed acute care hospitals, such as Mount Nittany, and children’s hospitals on a per-bed basis. The funding can only be used for recruitment programs and retention payments for direct care staff.

Hospital executives, administration, contracted staff and physicians would not be eligible for payments, according to Corman’s office.

“Our local health care providers have done an incredible job of managing through the COVID-19 crisis, but it is taking its toll on employees and our health systems as a whole,” Corman said in a statement. “This funding directly addresses the problems facing our local health care community by ensuring our hospitals can attract and retain the workers necessary to meet the needs of patients.”

Another $110 million will be distributed on a per-bed basis to designated critical access hospitals, hospitals with a high volume of Medicaid patients and inpatient and residential behavioral health facilities, such as The Meadows, for recruitment and retention payments to key staff.

The bill also provides $15 million for the state’s student loan forgiveness program for nurses, quadrupling the amount of funding available for the debt relief. The program has already received more than 8,000 applications in advance of the March 1 deadline, according to Wolf’s office.

“For the last two years, our frontline health care facilities and personnel have given all they have to keep Pennsylvanians safe from COVID-19,” Benninghoff said. “Time and again, they have been asked to give more of themselves than they have ever felt possible.

“It is clear this funding package will do a lot of good by getting resources to those facilities fighting this pandemic on the front lines while providing resources to bolster staff at Pennsylvania’s health care facilities, helping nurses deal with the burdens of student debt and getting help to those who have given their all to keep Pennsylvanians safe during the pandemic.”

A separate bill will soon be introduced in the House to allocate $25 million for recruitment and retention of emergency medical services personnel.