FEMA Awards Over $20 Million to UMass Memorial Health Care for COVID-19 Costs

BOSTON – The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $20 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. for the cost of steps taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $20,378,541in Public Assistance grants will reimburse the health care system in central Massachusetts – headquartered in Worcester and affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School – for various costs incurred dealing with the pandemic between March 2020 and January 2022 including:

• $1,075,700 to hire temporary staff to provide medical treatment patients, professional food services to provided meals; professional plumbing and HVAC services services to provide heat and air filtration the new COVID 19 units; translation services; cleaning services; and security services at system hospital locations and COVID 19 testing tents.

• $2,994,020 to pay 731 existing staff for 92,360 hours of additional work time providing medical treatment and patient care for COVID 19 patients at the Health Alliance (HA), Marlborough Hospital (MH), Medical Group (MG), Parent (UMMHC) and UMass Memorial Medical Center (UMMMC) locations.

• $1,716,779 for the purchase and distribution of supplies and commodities including 5 CC sterile and disposable syringes, heavy duty breathing tubes, HEPA filters used in ventilation machines, respirator oxygen tubes, and personal protective equipment such as nitrile gloves, surgical masks, and gowns.

• $6,513,473 to pay 2,394 staff members for 119,043 overtime hours worked.

• $8,078,569 to contract for medical staff to treat COVID-19 patients, as well as for expanding or repurposing existing facilities, providing testing tents, personal protective equipment storage, technical assistance, security services and facility disinfection.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation.”

FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.

So far, FEMA has provided more than $1.7 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.