More info on HHS Funding

June 9, 2020

During today’s National Council call for Association Executives, we talked extensively about the announcement we sent you earlier from HHS regarding a coming distribution of $15B from the Provider Relief Fund set aside in the CARES Act, this time for Medicaid and CHIP providers, safety net hospitals, etc.  

While the announcement today appears to disqualify those providers who have received prior payments directly from HHS based on their Medicare claims volume for 2018, it is also true the amount to be made available in this round ($15B) does not deplete the Fund. As such, it is possible there could be future disbursements beyond the amount announced today.  That’s the work and the advocacy ahead of us.  So, if you have not received any prior Medicare-related payments from the Provider Relief Fund, you should go to the portal tomorrow and download the information being requested to make your organization eligible for these funds.  (We are waiting for portal website information and will send it to you as soon as it is available.)  

A question was asked about whether providers who previously received federal funds during the COVID-19 crisis based on their Medicare volume in 2018 should try to give back the funds they received so they can qualify for this new distribution.  The answer from Chuck Ingolia (CEO, National Council) was that the amount of money announced today ($15B) has to cover a much larger swath of eligible providers than was the case with previous rounds of money, so it may not be advantageous to give back the funds you received previously (if you could give them back).

Finally, according to the National Council, it is highly likely that the info requested on the portal opening tomorrow could be the same information that the National Council requested from our members late last month.