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Hospitals say PPE and testing delays strain capacity; DHS outlines CARES payments to providers
Summary
Hospital and medical society representatives told the committee clinics and hospitals still face N95 and reagent shortages, long commercial-lab turnaround times and staffing strain; DHS described CARES Act allocations for direct-care workers, nursing homes, hospitals and housing/food assistance.
Representatives from the Arkansas Medical Society and the Arkansas Hospital Association told the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that shortages of N95s, gowns and testing reagents, plus multi-day turnaround times at commercial labs, are undermining contact tracing and stressing hospital staffing.
David Roten of the medical society said the organization has distributed PPE to private clinics but that N95 supply remained limited until very recently. Beau Ryle and Jodi Ann Trent of the hospital association said testing turnaround times reported by members ranged from three to 14 days at commercial labs; delays of that length make contact tracing much less effective, they said.
Committee members asked how CARES funds were being used. Mark White of the Department of Human Services said the state has directed CARES dollars to emergency solutions for housing, nutrition programs, childcare for essential workers and direct payments for in-hospital and long-term-care staff. DHS and the steering committee have also allocated separate CARES sums for hospitals and nursing homes; initial payments to hospitals and nursing homes were expected to start the week following the hearing.
Hospital representatives noted federal CARES distributions to Arkansas hospitals and other healthcare entities and said allocations vary by formula; DHS said hospitals had received federal CARES distributions but some formulas favor different hospital types. Panelists urged continued attention to testing capacity and supply chains for PPE and reagents.
No formal votes occurred; DHS officials said they would publish application guidance for emergency housing and related CARES-funded programs in the coming days.
