The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on July 17 that it will begin distributing a second round of funding to hospitals in “high impact COVID-19 areas.” The funding is intended to address the recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.

The funding is based on data submitted by hospitals about their COVID-19 admissions from January 1 to June 10. Hospitals are eligible for this funding if they had (1) over 161 COVID-19 admissions between January 1 and June 10, (2) one COVID-19 admission per day, or (3) an above-average ratio of COVID-19 admissions per bed. Hospitals will receive $50,000 per eligible admission.

In the first round of funding, 395 hospitals received $12 billion ($76,975 per eligible admission) in May. HHS estimates that funding will be provided to over 1,000 hospitals in the second round. A list of recipients of the current distribution is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.