HHS Pushes Back Deadline for Provider Relief Fund Reporting

HHS has amended the Provider Relief Fund reporting timeline in order to give those who received over $10,000 in payments more time to attest how they used the funds.

The federal department announced on Jan. 15 that per the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, passed by Congress in December, it is giving providers more time to give Provider Relief Fund recipients time to “familiarize themselves with the updated reporting requirements well in advance of required submission deadlines.”

HHS had previously anticipated opening the Provider Relief Fund reporting portal by Jan. 15, 2021, with the first deadline for submissions on Feb. 15, 2021, for providers who received Provider Relief Fund payments exceeding $10,000 in aggregate.

HHS did not yet establish a new deadline for Provider Relief Fund reporting on coronavirus-related expenses and losses, according to the announcement.

The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act added another $3 billion to the Provider Relief Fund program for distribution to providers and included language specific to reporting.

The law requires that recipients of these payments “submit reports and maintain documentation” to ensure they used the payments for “health care related expenses of lost revenues that are attributable to” COVID-19, as long as those expenses or losses cannot be reimbursed from other sources.

The law also clarifies that lost revenues are defined as “the difference between such provider’s budgeted and actual revenue budget if such budget had been established and approved prior to March 27, 2020,” per a June 2020 Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) published in HHS guidance.

HHS had modified the definition of “lost revenues” in September to be the change in year-over-year net operating income from patient care related sources.

Healthcare providers criticized the change, arguing that the new definition would result in some providers having to return payments in order to comply with Provider Relief Fund terms and conditions.

The new law allows providers to calculate lost revenue using one of three methods:

• the difference between 2019 and 2020 actual patient care revenue;
• the difference between 2020 budgeted and 2020 actual patient care revenue, using a budget that was established and approved prior to March 27, 2020; or
• any other reasonable method, which providers must describe and justify its use.

The law also clarifies that parent organizations may transfer targeted distributions through the Provider Relief Fund, which allocate payments to specific provider types, to other subsidiaries. Original recipients of the targeted distribution payments must report on the use of the funds, however.

Additionally, transferred targeted distributions are more likely to be audited by the federal government later.

HHS said it is working on updating Provider Relief Fund reporting requirements to be consistent with the new law.

In the meantime, the federal department is encouraging Provider Relief Fund recipients subject to reporting to establish a reporting account by registering at the new Provider Relief Fund reporting website.

All providers who must report the use of the funds will need to create a reporting account through the website to comply with reporting requirements when HHS sets a deadline for submissions, the announcement stated.

Additionally, the announcement said that reporting requirements outlined in the announcement do not apply to Nursing Home Infection Control, Rural Health Clinics Testing, and COVID-19 Claims Reimbursement to Health Care Providers and Facilities for Testing, Treatment and Vaccine Administration for the Uninsured recipients.

Most recently, HHS reimbursed over 30,000 providers for COVID-19 testing and treatment of uninsured individuals. Specifically, the department paid over $1.4 billion for testing claims and $1.5 billion for treatment claims, according to the announcement.

Additionally, HHS distributed almost $117 billion through the General and Targeted Distributions of the Provider Relief Fund program, as of the week of Jan. 11. The payments went to 644,091 provider Tax Identification Numbers (TINs), of which 403,235 providers attested to the terms and conditions for nearly $102 billion in Provider Relief Fund payments.

“HHS thanks our heroic healthcare providers for their tireless efforts combatting this pandemic and will continue to provide timely and transparent communication as it relates to the PRF program,” the federal department said in the announcement.