WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 7, 2020)—The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) opened the $20 billion Phase 3 General Distribution under the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) on Monday, Oct.5th. Applications for Phase 3 are available to health care providers, including DMEPOS companies that have already received or rejected payments from the Phase 1 & 2 General Distribution. This new funding stream extends eligibility to previously ineligible providers, such as behavioral health providers and providers that started servicing in 2020.
The application process is similar to the Phase 1 & 2 applications, except HHS will be collecting more information on provider’s revenue and expenses from patient care. This is an opportunity for providers to receive payment in addition to the 2% annual net patient revenue. However, Phase 3 will prioritize payments to providers who have not received 2% of their annual net patient revenue through Phase 1 & 2. Remaining funds will be dispersed based on information submitted by applicants, and therefore, additional payment amounts above the 2% net patient revenue will be determined after the application deadline on Nov. 6, 2020.
Applications are submitted at the Application and Attestation Portal. HHS recommends providers submit the application as soon as possible to speed up the calculation and disbursement of funds. For specific questions on your application, AAHomecare recommends contacting the Provider Support Line: (866) 569-3522.
HHS is also hosting a webinar on this relief opportunity on Thursday, October 15th at 3PM (Eastern). You can register for the webinar here.
Applicants should thoroughly review the Phase 3 General Distribution Terms and Conditions and continue to monitor the PRF website for new information. HHS has also developed extensive FAQs for this relief round—also available in PDF form (see pages 40-48 for Phase 3 info).
There are several requirements associated with accepting payments from the PRF. Below are some matters recipients should be aware of, including:
1. ATTESTATION
All recipients are required to accept or reject any payment from the PRF within 90 days of payment. Providers can attest or reject the payment at the Application and Attestation Portal. If no action is taken, HHS will consider this as the recipient accepting the Terms and Conditions and will publish the provider’s name and payment amount on the Provider Relief Fund public list on the CDC’s website. As of last week, HHS distributed more than $105 billion in payments to 530,916 providers through the PRF. Of that, 346,420 providers attested to more than $88 billion of the payments so far.
2. POST-PAYMENT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Any recipient who received $10,000 or more in aggregate from the PRF are subject to reporting requirements. The portal to submit the report will be open on Jan. 15, 2021. Recipients will need to submit information on lost revenue, expenses due to COVID-19, and other financial and non-financial information. More information on the reporting requirements and data elements can be found here.
3. AUDITS
All recipients are potentially subject to audits. The HHS Office of Inspector General already announced in May that they will be auditing $50 billion in payments made through the PRF. In addition, as part of the post-payment reporting requirement, any provider that received $750,000 or more in aggregate from the PRF will be subject to the Single Audit requirement. AAHomecare recommends recipients to maintain proper records and documentation.
