Providers Must Act by June 3, 2020 to Receive Additional Relief Fund General Distribution Payment
Today, May 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is reminding eligible providers that they have until June 3, 2020, to accept the Terms and Conditions and submit their revenue information to support receiving an additional payment from the Provider Relief Fund $50 billion General Distribution. All providers who automatically received an additional General Distribution payment prior to 5:00 pm, Friday, April 24th, must provide HHS with an accounting of their annual revenues by submitting tax forms or financial statements. These providers must also agree to the program Terms and Conditions if they wish to keep the funds. Providers who have cases pending before the department for adjudication with regard to eligibility for general distribution funding will not be impacted by this closure. All cases needing individual adjudication will need to be received by HHS no later than June 3, 2020.
The submission of tax forms or financial statements to the portal will also serve as an application for additional funding for those providers that have not already received an additional General Distribution payment. If these providers do not submit their revenue information by June 3, they will no longer be eligible to receive potential additional funding from the $50 billion General Distribution.
As you are aware, HHS previously announced $50 billion of the Provider Relief Fund was allocated for general distribution to facilities and providers that bill Medicare and were impacted by COVID-19, based on eligible providers' net patient revenue. To expedite providers getting money as quickly as possible, HHS distributed $30 billion immediately, proportionate to providers' share of Medicare fee-for-service reimbursements in 2019. Then, beginning on April 24, HHS began distributing an additional $20 billion to providers based on their share of net patient revenue, and began accepting submissions from eligible providers of their financial data. Providers have 45 days from the date they received a payment to attest and accept the Terms and Conditions or return the funds. Providers that do not log into the provider portal and accept the Terms and Conditions after 45 days of receipt will be deemed to have accepted the Terms and Conditions.
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HHS Updates the Provider Relief Fund FAQs
On May 19, updated the Provider Relief Funds FAQs. New/modified questions are below:
What should a provider do if a General Distribution payment is greater than expected or received in error? (Modified 5/19/2020)
Providers that have been allocated a payment must sign an attestation confirming receipt of the funds and agree to the Terms and Conditions within 45 days of payment. If a provider believes it was overpaid or may have received a payment in error, it should reject the entire General Distribution payment and submit the appropriate revenue documents through the General Distribution portal to facilitate HHS determining their correct payment. If a provider believes they are underpaid, they should accept the payment and submit their revenues in the provider portal to determine their correct payment.
If, as a result of the sale of a practice/hospital, the TIN that received a General Distribution payment is no longer providing health care services as of January 31, 2020, is it required to return the General Distribution payment? (Added 5/19/2020)
Yes. If, as a result of the sale of a practice/hospital, the TIN that received a General Distribution payment did not provide diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 on or after January 31, 2020, the provider must reject the payment. The CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Payment Attestation Portal will guide you through the attestation process to reject the payment.
An organization purchased a practice during or after the year of the organization’s most recent tax filing and the purchased practice’s revenues are not reflected in the most recent tax return. How does the organization account for these acquisitions when submitting revenue information in the Payment Portal? (Added 5/19/2020)
An organization’s adjusted gross receipts should be calculated as gross receipts as shown on the organization’s most recent tax return plus gross receipts of the practice acquired not reflected in the organization’s tax return minus gross receipts of providers sold not reflected in the organization’s tax return. If an organization’s adjusted gross receipts exceed the gross receipts shown in the tax return by more than 20%, the organization is eligible to enter the adjusted gross receipts figure in the Provider Relief Fund Payment Portal. Otherwise, the organization should enter the gross receipts figure as shown on the tax return. Organizations that have already submitted an application in the Payment Portal can resubmit a revised application using the adjusted gross receipts number accounting for acquisitions, if the adjusted gross receipts exceeds the gross receipts shown in the tax return by more than 20%. Gross receipts of acquired entities that provide care as of January 31, 2020 and file their own tax returns cannot be included in such adjusted gross receipts figure, because they should submit their own application as tax return filers.
Can an organization that sold its only practice or facility under a change in ownership in 2019 and is no longer providing services, accept payment and transfer it to the new owner? (Added 5/19/2020)
No. A provider that sold its only practice or facility must reject the Provider Relief Fund payment because it cannot attest that it was providing diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 on or after January 31, 2020, as required by the Terms and Conditions. Seller organizations should not transfer a payment received from HHS to another entity. If the current TIN owner has not yet received any payment from the Provider Relief Fund, it may still receive funds in other distributions.
Can a provider that purchased a TIN in 2019 accept a Provider Relief Fund payment from a previous owner and complete the attestation for the Terms and Conditions? (Added 5/19/2020)
No. The new TIN owner cannot accept the payment from another entity nor attest to the Terms and Conditions on behalf of the previous owner in order to retain the Provider Relief Fund payment. If the new TIN owner did not receive a direct payment under the General Distribution, it is not eligible to receive a payment under the General Distribution. However, the new TIN owner may still receive funds in other distributions.
Should providers continue to update their high-impact data? (Modified 5/19/2020)
Providers should update their capacity and COVID-19 census data to ensure that HHS can make timely payments in the event that the provider becomes a high-impact provider. Providers can continue to update their information through the same method they used previously.