Report looks at economic outlook for health care, other sectors

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today released a compilation of perspectives on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various sectors and the outlook for 2021.

AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack and Federation of American Hospitals President and CEO Chip Kahn contributed to the health care section, noting that reports released in May and June projected at least $323.1 billion in financial losses for hospitals and health systems through 2020.

“The $178 billion in the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund falls far short of covering these losses – and hospitals and health systems only received a little more than half the $124 billion in funding released by HHS so far,” they note. “… As we enter 2021 with spiking COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations across the country, the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitals, health systems and the communities they serve are difficult to project, but it is already clear they will be severe.”