HARRISBURG, Pa. - Transforming Health’s Brett Sholtis reports, the state house speaker is seeking funds for health systems to provide people at those facilities with more support.
Republican Mike Turzai says nursing homes, personal care homes and assisted living facilities lack the medical personnel and resources to deal with the unprecedented challenges of the coronavirus.
Speaking on WITF’s Smart Talk, he says academic health systems across the state such as UPMC and Penn Medicine have stepped in to help.
“Academic health centers in Pennsylvania will take responsibility, and will be paid by the state, for the provision of this type of expertise and care and testing,” said Turzai.
Pennsylvania has received $3.9 billion in federal coronavirus relief money and Turzai wants to allocate about a half billion dollars of that for those health systems.
Calling it a “public-private partnership,” Turzai says they would work with the government to target plans that would protect the elderly residents from getting the virus and provide better treatment for those who get it.