Zoll Medical said today that it’s returning money that it automatically received from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ $50 billion Cares Act Provider Relief Fund.
“Although we meet all of the qualifications for the funds we received and could fully comply with the terms and conditions required to keep the funds, we believe that there are other providers that have an even greater need, so returning the funds to be available to others is just the right thing to do,” said Jason T. Whiting, president of Zoll Cardiac Management Solutions.
“Healthcare systems around the world will need to continue to address the COVID pandemic for some time to come, but I believe these systems will soon begin to open care for other patient groups, especially acute cardiovascular disease patients, and we remain ready to support physicians and other health care professionals in their care for these patients,” Whiting said in a news release.
Zoll’s Cardiac Management Solutions division — which includes both the LifeVest wearable defibrillator and Cardiac Diagnostics ECG monitoring businesses — had received the money from the Provider Relief Fund as part of an automatic, expedited distribution to Medicare providers.
Zoll itself is playing an important role in efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is working on a $350.1 million contract from HHS to produce 18,900 ventilators by July 3 — at the same time that its Pawtucket, R.I. facility has had to manage dozens of coronavirus cases among workers.
