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$100 Billion Infusion of Medicare Dollars to Begin as Early as Today!

Breaking News: $100 Billion Emergency Fund Distribution Begins
 
CMS plans to release the first $30 billion of the emergency funds as early as today (Friday, April 10, 2020) via electronic payment to providers’ bank accounts.
Highlights from the announcement (available here and here) include the following:
  • If you are a Medicare provider, you may receive funds starting as early as Friday, April 10, 2020;
  • The dollar amount to be received is the provider’s percentage (%) of 2019 Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) reimbursements (initial total to be distributed is $30 billion). This does not include Medicare Advantage payments. (An example of the calculation: Provider billed Medicare FFS of $121 million in 2019. Equation is $121,000,000/$484,000,000,000 x $30,000,000,000 = $7,500,000);
  • Reminder, this is not a loan (like the Advance Payments) and the funds will not need to be repaid;
  • Distribution of the funds is being handled by UnitedHealth Group;
  • Within 30 days of receiving the funds, providers must sign an attestation confirming receipt of the funds and agree to not seek collection of out-of-pocket payments from a COVID-19 patient that are greater that what the patient would have had to pay if care was provided by an in-network provider;
  • Additional targeted distributions will focus on providers in areas particularly impacted by COVID-19 outbreaks, rural providers, and providers of services with a lower share of Medicare FFS reimbursement or who predominantly serve the Medicaid population.
Important to note: This funding is in addition to Medicare Accelerated and Advanced Payment Schedule.
 
HealthPRO Heritage reminds and encourages all Medicare providers to proactively communicate with your accounts receivable department to confirm receipt of this well-timed supplemental compensation. The only step that providers must take is to log in and sign the attestation.

Tags: COVID-19, Coronavirus