The deadline for the hospital response needed to receive funding for highly impacted COVID areas through the CARES Act has been extended to Saturday, April 25, 2020, at 12 p.m. PST. The United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) will soon make targeted distributions to hospitals and other facilities that have been particularly affected by the increased burden of caring for those with COVID-19. Submitting this data will inform the decision-making on targeted relief fund payments and is a prerequisite to payment but is not a guarantee of eligibility for any amount. Read the American Hospital Association’s special bulletin for additional information. Hospital “site administrators” also should have received an email from HHS with submission details. If you do not know who the email went to in your organization, please email Ryan Lam at RyanL@wsha.org to identify them.
HHS has also clarified how it plans to allocate the remaining $70 billion from the initial CARES Act funding. The money will be distributed across the following categories: $20 billion in general allocations, $10 billion to highly impacted areas, $10 billion for rural and $400 million to tribal areas. HHS has also announced it will pay Medicare rates for patients who do not have insurance coverage.
Health care providers who receive funds from the $100 billion Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund through the CARES Act must attest to receiving the funds and agree to the terms and conditions of payment within 30 days of receipt. This can be done through the newly opened CARES Act emergency fund attestation portal.
Congress is also in the process of passing additional funding for hospitals and providers. The Senate has approved the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act – a $484 billion COVID-19 relief package – which includes an additional $75 billion for hospitals, health systems and other health care providers. The $75 billion, which is in addition to the $100 billion from the CARES bill, would reimburse eligible health care providers for health-care-related expenses or lost revenues not otherwise reimbursed that are directly attributable to COVID-19. The House is expected to vote today. The American Hospital Association (AHA) released a special bulletin report with more information.
