Jeff Bergosh Blog: How Much Does it Cost to Provide a COVID-19 Test to an Escambia County Citizen?

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I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following : Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican, for Escambia County Commissioner District 1

Friday, January 8, 2021

How Much Does it Cost to Provide a COVID-19 Test to an Escambia County Citizen?

What is the actual cost of performing a COVID-19 test on an Escambia County Citizen?

A fascinating discussion occurred late, as the BCC's regular meeting dragged on past 9:00PM last night.

We were discussing CARES act allocations and we had several contracts to consider---including two that would have provided additional CARES act funding for COVID-19 tests.

We were contemplating approving a contract with Ascension Sacred Heart which would have provided $100 for each uninsured citizen that gets a COVID-19 test at one of Ascension's sites. According to representatives from Ascension--they "Ate more than $1 Million" in revenue loss from COVID-19 tests administered thus far. There was no elaboration on exactly what that means, though.

Was this $1 Million + in losses unrecoverable from any federal source under CARES? Was it $1 Million in actual costs or wass this $1 Million in retail or list cost? I'd like to know this, but did not get clarification during the morning session.

When County staff was asked during the subsequent evening meeting "How much does Ascension pay for a COVID-19 test?" The answer came back from staff that "They (Ascension) do not share this information."

Additional discussion among board members centered on the fact that Community Health Northwest is paid $37 per COVID-19 test in a separate agreement--which apparently covers their costs and allows them to provide these rapid tests to at-risk citizens. This is quite a bit less than what Ascension was going to be getting. Naturally, one would assume it must be less expensive for Ascension to administer these tests, given their size, economy of scale, and their organic, in-house testing capability?

So why do they need to get $100 per test? That was the question that went unanswered last night.

Because nobody from Ascension came to answer--and because board members had questions--the contracts with Ascension for both the mass vaccinations AND the testing were not approved. Hopefully over the next two weeks we can get some clarification from Ascension....because folks like me want to know---How much does it cost to provided a COVID-19 test to an Escambia County Citizen?