Cares Act Provider Relief Funds: Reporting Set To Begin In 2021; New Reporting Requirements
Published: January 29, 2021
The Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) has completed review of Phase 3 applications for the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”) and expects to distribute $24.5 billion to over 70,000 health care providers by the end of this month. These payments are intended to cover loss revenues attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to HRSA, over 35,000 Phase 3 applicants will not receive any additional payment because they either experienced no change in revenues or net expenses attributable to COVID-19, or those that have already received funds that equal or exceed reimbursement of 88% of reported losses.1
As a condition of receiving payment distributions from the PRF, all recipients who received one or more payments exceeding $10,000 in the aggregate must submit certain reporting information to the HRSA. On January 15, 2021, the HRSA opened the PRF Reporting Portal for provider registration. The PRF Reporting Portal may be accessed at https://prfreporting.hrsa.gov/s/. Recipients are unable to enter reporting information at this time but the HRSA expects to announce the window for submitting such reports in the near future.2 Recipients with funds unexpended after December 21, 2020 will have six more months from January 1 to June 30, 2021 to use remaining funds, and are required to submit a second and final report no later than July 31, 2021.3
Finally, recipients should be aware that the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued a new post-payment notice of reporting requirements that supersedes the prior November 2, 2020 notice.4 In the January 15, 2021 notice, significant changes include: (1) greater flexibility in calculating lost revenue by providing three alternative methodologies to recipients; (2) allowing recipients to allocate funds from Targeted Distributions to the recipients’ subsidiaries; (3) requiring the reporting of interest if the recipient held payments in an interest-bearing account; and (4) requiring the reporting of additional information such as the recipient’s payor mix and business organization.5
Note that these reporting requirements do not apply to the Nursing Home Infection Control or Rural Health Clinic Testing distributions, nor do they apply to reimbursement from the HRSA COVID-19 Claims Reimbursement to Health Care Providers and Facilities for Testing, Treatment, and Vaccine Administration for the Uninsured Program and the HRSA COVID-19 Vaccine Administration Assistance Fund.6
1 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “HHS Increases and Begins Distributing Over $24 Billion in Phase 3 COVID-19 Provider Relief Funding,” December 20, 2020, available at https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/12/16/hhs-increases-begins-distributing-over-24-billion-in-phase-3-covid-19-provider-relief-funding.html (last accessed Jan. 26, 2021).
2 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “Provider Relief Fund General Distribution FAQs,” last updated January 15, 2021, available at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/provider-relief-fund-general-distribution-faqs.pdf (last accessed Jan. 27, 2021).
3 Id.
4 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “General and Targeted Distribution Post-Payment Notice of Reporting Requirements,” January 15, 2021, available at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/provider-post-payment-notice-of-reporting-requirements-january-2021.pdf (last accessed Jan. 27, 2021).
5 See Id.
6 Id.