HHS Extends Time to Use Provider Relief Fund Payments
On June 11, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
revised the June 30, 2021, deadline
for expending funds received after June 30, 2020, from the Provider Relief Fund
(PRF). HHS also revised other PRF reporting requirements. The PRF was established
by Congress to help providers offset major revenue shortfalls that emerged due
to the COVID-19 pandemic. Letters from both the health care community and Congress
urged HHS to extend the deadlines.
Under
the extension plan, hospitals that received an aggregate of $10,000 after June
30, 2020, during one of the distribution periods will have more time to use the
funding. The deadlines to use the funding will be staggered based on the date
the funds were received. For example, hospitals that received funds from July
1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, will have until Dec. 31, 2021, to use their funding.
Those that received funds between Jan. 1, 2021, and June 30, 2021, will have until
June 30, 2022. Providers that will receive funds between July 1, 2021, and Dec.
31, 2021, will have until Dec. 31, 2022.
The
revised reporting requirements will
be applicable to providers who received one or more payments exceeding, in the
aggregate, $10,000 during a single payment received period from the PRF general
distributions, targeted distributions and/or skilled nursing facility and nursing
home infection control distributions. These reporting requirements do not apply
to the Rural Health Clinic COVID-19 Testing Program nor the two claims reimbursements
programs, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) COVID-19 Uninsured
Program and the HRSA COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund.
The PRF Reporting Portal will open for providers on July 1, 2021.
