By Bob Herman
July 7, 2020
Small hospitals, physician clinics, surgery centers, dental offices and other health care businesses were among the most common recipients of loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, according to data released by the federal government on Monday.
The big picture: Medical facilities had to halt routine procedures in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic as a way to prevent spread of infection and keep hospital beds open. PPP loans saved some, but certainly not all, of the jobs that are dependent on those routine procedures.
Between the lines: The health care industry is benefiting from two major sources of federal bailouts tied to the pandemic.
- The main pot of money is $175 billion in no-strings-attached grants. A lot of those funds have flowed to large hospitals and medical providers that charge high prices.
- Health care also is the largest recipient of PPP loans. Most of the loans have gone toward dentists, independent medical providers and rural hospitals that have not benefited as much from the main bailout funding.
The intrigue: Some health care organizations are dipping into both sources of money…