$15B HHS Cares Act Relief Fund Portal Data Collection

June 10, 2020

HHS Provider Relief Funds are now accessible to Medicaid providers who did not receive COVID-related relief funding from HHS yet.  HHS has stated that via the Medicare or the Medicaid Provider Relief Funds, a provider should expect to receive the equivalent payment of about 2% revenue.

Medicaid Providers who did not bill Medicare in 2018-2019:

Providers who billed Medicaid FFS or a managed care plan between Jan 2018 and June 2020 (and who did not bill Medicare) should go to the HHS Medicaid and CHIP Provider Relief portal to submit provider information including revenue. HHS states that providers can expect total payments from the Medicaid fund to equal at least 2% of gross revenue from patient care.  Terms and conditions for the Medicaid Fund are here.

Note: Providers must still submit their information to HHS via the portal, even if they previously submitted their information to the National Council.

Providers who billed Medicare in 2018-2019 (regardless of total Medicare revenue):

Providers who were eligible for and received the first automatic Medicare payment, and who submitted their revenue information to HHS via the General Distribution Portal on or before June 3, are likely waiting to receive a second payment.

Important to note: HHS stated that provider must have taken action by June 3, 2020 in order to be considered for future access to Provider Relief Fund payments. This action is the de facto application to access the second round of Provider Relief Funds if your organization had not yet received a second payment based on total revenue (after April 24, 2020), and for future funding via this stream. Providers can check the portal for the status of their information and application. HHS states that providers can expect total payments to equal ~2% of revenues.You may want to check your status and information submission on the Medicare General Distribution Portal.

For more information, please see the Provider Relief Fund FAQ (updated June 10) and the General Distribution Portal section of the HHS Provider Relief Fund website.

  • The portal IS NOW ACTIVE here:  HHS CARES Act Relief Page. 
  • You will need your Optum ID to log in, or you can create one if you do not already have one.
  • You should have your billing TIN available, and the system will prompt you to validate it.
  • If your organization qualifies for the funding, the portal will guide you through the upload of your revenue and tax information.
  • If you receive a message that your TIN validation is pending, this means that HHS is looking into your eligibility for the funds. If you receive this message, follow the instructions on the email you subsequently receive from HHS.
  • Full instructions to submit your information is available here.