The White House made 100 billion dollars available for providers like you through the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund.
Every facility and provider that received Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursements in 2019 is eligible to receive a portion of the first 30 billion dollars of this program. 26 billion of this 30 was paid out on April 10th, with the remainder expected within the next few days. These are payments, not loans, and do not need to be repaid. This is distinct from the CMS Accelerated and Advance Payment Program, which will need to be repaid. We recommend that you do not apply for the CMS Accelerated and Advance Payment Program.
The automatic payments will come to providers via Optum Bank with “HHSPAYMENT” as the payment description. Providers who normally receive a paper check for reimbursement from CMS, will receive a paper check in the mail for this payment as well, within the next few weeks. Claimpower will not charge a commission on these CARES Act payments.
Providers must attest receipt of this payment within 30 days through a portal that will open on April 13th, 2020.
There are 70 billion more dollars left to be allocated through the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund. CMS has indicated that this will happen through an application process but has not yet provided any details on how. We will share updates as we come across them.
More information can be found at these links:
- https://www.hhs.gov/provider-relief/index.html
- https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CARES-Act-Provider-Relief-Fund-Fact-Sheet_WAMR_4.10.20-1.pdf
- https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/relief-fund-payment-terms-and-conditions-04092020.pdf
- https://republicans-waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/cares_support_for_providers.pdf