Nearly $160 million in federal funding promised to the hospitals of the Lehigh Valley and surrounding area during the COVID-19 pandemic has finally arrived.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie held a virtual news conference Monday afternoon with representatives from St. Luke’s University Health Network and Jefferson Health, which owns Lehigh Valley Health Network, to talk about the release of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds that were held up for years.
“Hospitals had to make new investments to protect their patients and staff and ensure that everyone received high-quality care that they deserved,” Mackenzie said. “However, despite making those investments and successfully navigating our communities through the pandemic, many of these providers face severe reimbursement delays. And as of even the start of this year, here in 2026, providers all across Pennsylvania were still owed nearly $600 million.”
Mackenzie said healthcare providers contacted members of Congress at the start of the year, asking for assistance in finally getting these funds. He said he and his colleagues across the state worked toward that goal, and in part due to work he did on the Homeland Security Committee, St. Luke’s received almost $52 million and Jefferson received $107 million for its legacy Lehigh Valley Health Network region. Good Shepherd Rehabilitation received $2.5 million.
Ashley Swope, St. Luke’s chief nursing officer, said the money it received will be used for staff and agency nurses, responding to financial hardships the network has faced, and rebuilding and stabilizing its nursing workforce. She said before the pandemic, St. Luke’s had not needed to use agency nurses.
“Despite the premium pay that we were offering to our nursing teams, overtime, high hourly bonus rates, PTO incentives, it got to a point that our nursing teams, our clinical teams just could not and would not work anymore. So, obviously as a healthcare system, we still had a requirement to our patients and a commitment to providing safe and quality care. So, bringing agencies in helped our nursing teams to be able to supplement the care for patients,” Swope said.
Dr. Edmund Pribitkin, chief physician executive of Jefferson, said the FEMA dollars it received will be used to ensure care providers have access to necessary equipment and stable workplaces so they can deliver the best care possible.
“In an environment where reimbursement often falls short of covering the true cost of care, this federal funding ensures that our hospitals can navigate these structural financial challenges while remaining steadfast in our mission and improve lives, and advance the overall health of the many communities we serve,” Pribitkin said.
Michael Spigel, Good Shepherd’s president and CEO, said they are grateful to receive these funds after protecting and caring for patients during the pandemic.
“This funding helps offset the significant costs we incurred to continue delivering essential care — from enhanced infection control and diagnostic testing to deep disinfection, expanded personal protective equipment needs, and more,” said Spigel.