The figure is generally bigger than $48000. It may have been $48,000 for a mention of COVID on the death certificate but hospitals also got paid for accepting COVID patients and were paid again for putting them on a ventilator.

That was why every new patient, even ones from car accidents, were tested for COVID because if they were positive they received a lump sum.

EDIT: I just found a man who knows.

And here is an article.

And here is another one with even bigger numbers.