HHS Announces Distribution of Another $20 Billion From Provider Relief Fund for Coronavirus Care

On October 1, 2020, Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that health care providers will have access to an additional $20 billion in funding from the federal Provider Relief Fund (PRF) to support coronavirus care. HHS has already distributed about $100 billion of the $175 billion allotted to the PRF from the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act.

In its announcement, HHS pointed out that it is making a large number of providers eligible for this funding. The primary targets of this funding round are:

• providers that received, rejected or accepted a previous PRF distribution or combined distributions that did not equate to at least 2 percent of their annual patient revenue;
• behavioral health providers; and
• providers that began operations between January 1, 2020 and March 31, 2020.

Providers that have already received PRF payments equal to 2 percent of their annual patient revenue are eligible to apply to receive a potential add-on payment.

Unlike previous distributions that were released based on information the federal government was able to gather, this distribution requires providers to submit applications between October 5 and November 6, 2020. HHS has encouraged providers to submit their applications early to help expedite the review process.

HHS will review submissions to determine whether the applicant has already received approximately 2 percent of its annual patient revenue in previous PRF funding. If not, a true up payment will be made to bring the applicant up to this approximate percentage amount when combined with any other Provider Relief Funds received.

The remainder of the $20 billion will be distributed by calculating an equitable add-on payment based on changes in operating revenues and expenses and other PRF funds the provider has already received.

As with other PRF funding, recipients will be required to attest to certain terms and conditions. HHS is making webinars and other resources available to providers to explain application and reporting processes.

Providers should stay abreast of HHS announcements for information about the process and timeline for distributing the remaining PRF funds. 

For information about apply for or reporting PRF funds, contact us. We are here to help.

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