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HHS Funding

HHS Announces Allocations for CARES Act Provider Relief Fund; Extends Deadline for Hospitals to Apply for Payments

On Thursday (Apr. 23), HHS announced additional allocations of the $100 billion Provider Relief Fund for hospitals and other healthcare providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response.

$50 billion of the Provider Relief Fund is allocated for general distribution to Medicare facilities and providers impacted by COVID-19, based on eligible providers’ 2018 net patient revenue. The initial $30 billion was distributed between April 10 and April 17. All facilities and providers that received Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursements in 2019 are eligible for this initial rapid distribution.

Providers who have received funds must sign the attestation form, which can be found here.

On Friday, HHS will begin to distribute an additional $20 billion to providers that takes into account their Medicare Advantage and Medicaid revenue from 2018. Initial distributions will be to those providers where HHS already has cost reports. Other providers will need to upload their data on HHS’ provider portal, which is expected to go live over the weekend. That site will be here.

The remaining $50 billion will be distributed through targeted allocations:

High Impact Areas: $10 billion will be allocated for a targeted distribution to hospitals in areas that have been particularly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Hospitals can apply for a portion of the funds by providing information (TIN, etc.) via an authentication portal.

Initially, hospitals had until midnight PT, Thursday, April 23 to apply, however, HHS announced Thursday that the deadline has been extended until 3:00PM ET, Saturday, April 25.

Uninsured: Every health care provider who has provided treatment for uninsured COVID-19 patients on or after February 4, 2020, can request claims reimbursement through the program and will be reimbursed at Medicare rates, subject to available funding. Providers can register for the program on April 27, 2020, and begin submitting claims in early May 2020. For more information, click here.

Rural Areas: $10 billion will be allocated for rural health clinics and hospitals. 

Indian Health Services: $400 million will be allocated for Indian Health Service facilities.

References

^[1]Caygle, Heather & Ferris, Sarah “House Passes relief package after weeks of partisan battles” Politico Pro, 23 Apr. 2020 https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2020/04/house-to-pass-484b-coronavirus-aid-package-1919819