In March, 2020, Congress appropriated $100 billion to provide “general” and “targeted” relief to healthcare providers financially impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The general relief portion is expected to total $50 billion.
As of April 24, 2020, $30 billion of the general relief funds had been automatically disbursed by Heath and Human Services (HHS) to all healthcare providers that had Medicare Fee-For-Service Payments (Parts A and B) in 2019. No application was required to receive these funds. These funds did not have to be repaid if the provider meets certain terms and conditions, including being able to demonstrate that lost revenues and increased expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic equaled or exceeded the funds received. However, providers did need to go online within 30 days of receipt and sign an attestation form electing to keep these funds.
Round Two Funding Requirements
Any provider that received a payment from HHS during the first round is now eligible to apply for additional funds from the remaining $20 billion of general relief funding. Unlike the first round of disbursements, healthcare providers will have to apply for round two funds, and provide data on their annual revenues and estimated COVID-related expenses on or before June 3, 2020. To be eligible for round two funding you must meet the following requirements:
- You must have already received a payment during round one.
- You must have billed and received Medicare Fee-For-Service Payments in 2019 and not are not currently terminated from participation in Medicare, or precluded from receiving payments from Medicare Advantage or Part D; and you are not currently excluded from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal health care programs and your Medicare billing privileges are not currently revoked.
- You must attest to having received that payment via the Provider Attestation Portal, and agree to the Terms and Conditions on the attestation portal.
- You must have filed tax returns for the years 2017 and 2018, if one was required.
Round Two Funding Application
You will need to have the following ready to submit as part of the application process:
- The Taxpayer Identification Number of the entity applying for relief funds;
- Your estimated revenue losses in March and April 2020 due to COVID-19;
- A copy of your most recently filed federal income tax return, either 2017, 2018 or 2019;
- A listing of the taxpayer identification numbers of any subsidiary organizations, if applicable, that have received Provider Relief Funds but that do not file separate tax returns.
Lost revenue can be estimated by comparing the organization’s March 2020 and April 2020 revenue to your March and April 2019 revenue. You can also use budgeted revenue figures for March and April 2020 that would have been expected had the pandemic not happened, and compare that to your actual figures for those months. The only requirement is that a reasonable method of estimation is used.
Other Resources
If you did not receive a payment from the general relief distribution in round one, you may still be eligible to receive assistance through “targeted” relief distributions. The eligibility requirements for the receipt of targeted funds, and a comprehensive description of the CARES Act Provider Relief Program can be found here.
If you have any questions regarding the CARES Act Provider Relief Funds, please reach out via email, give us a call at (401) 921-2000, or fill out our online contact us form. For further information regarding COVID-19 assistance programs, please visit our COVID-19 Resources page.