Boston Medical Center and Renton, Wash.-based Providence are among the backers of new legislation that aims to inject $105 billion into healthcare infrastructure needs as health systems increasingly face the effects of extreme climate events.
The new legislation seeks to provide $100 billion in funds to revive the New Deal's Hill-Burton program, which under President Harry Truman aimed at improving access for all patients to upgraded healthcare facilities.
Such funding would specifically address the need to update facilities to make them become more resilient in the face of climate disasters and public health crises. A further $5 billion would be set aside for planning grants to fund pre-development needs, such as community assessments and engineering evaluations, for projects that would address the dangers of future events such as flooding, extreme heat and wildfires.
The so-called GREEN Hospitals Act, sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, aims to counter the chronic underinvestment of health systems in pre-disaster mitigation, which delays critical infrastructure projects, Mr. Markey said.
"BMC supports Senator Markey's introduction of the GREEN Hospitals Act in order to bring critical federal resources to bear to further bolster the health sector's role in mitigating the climate crisis," said Bob Biggio, senior vice president of facilities and support services at Boston Medical Center.