UofA Health Sciences Awarded $1.35M In COVID-19 Relief For Rural Hospitals

Rural hospitals struggled with a unique set of challenges long before the pandemic

emergency

To assist Arizona’s rural hospitals, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded the University of Arizona Health Sciences $1.35 million to support the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program at the Center for Rural Health in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health .

The source of the funding is the federal government’s coronavirus relief bill, which allocated $150 million for hospitals in the United States eligible to receive assistance from the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program. In Arizona, 16 rural hospitals are eligible to receive as much as $71,500 over the next 18 months to prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19.

The Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program allows the Center for Rural Health to assist with the following:

  • Ensure patient and hospital personnel safety to minimize COVID-19 exposure.
  • Address emergent COVID-19 issues, including testing, lab, patient and community education.
  • Restore, sustain and strengthen hospital capacity and staffing levels by reinstating and reassigning providers, hiring new providers or contractors and/or increasing staff time to respond to coronavirus and continue hospital operations.
  • Complete minor alteration and renovation to maximize isolation precautions and facilitate telehealth.
  • Purchase equipment, including health information technology and telehealth equipment, vehicles, triage tents and mobile medical units.
  • Purchase supplies, including COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines, when available.
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