The American Hospital Association is calling on the federal government to renew two emergency declarations related to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure continued support for hospitals responding to the crisis.
In a Jan. 11 letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, AHA urged the agency to renew its public health emergency declaration — set to expire Jan. 16 — for at least another 90 days.
In a separate letter, AHA encouraged President Joe Biden to extend the national emergency surrounding COVID-19 for at least another year under the National Emergencies Act. The national emergency is slated to end March 1.
"The emergency declarations have proven critical in equipping hospitals and health systems with the tools and resources necessary to manage the recent COVID-19 surges and ensure high-quality care in this unprecedented environment," AHA wrote in the letters. "In their absence, the challenges of the pandemic will be exponentially more difficult to overcome."