Its because they get a 20% kickback from Medicare IF a patient is admitted with COVID-19. This provision comes from Sec. 3710 of the CARES Act:
Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Hospitals - Section 3710 of the CARES Act directs the Secretary to increase the weighting factor of the assigned Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) by 20 percent for an individual diagnosed with COVID-19 discharged during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) period.
Its because they get a 20% kickback from Medicare IF a patient is admitted with COVID-19. This provision comes from Sec. 3710 of the CARES Act:
https://www.cms.gov/files/document/se20015.pdf