Contact Representatives About Urging HHS to Reinstate Provider Relief Fund Reporting Requirements

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Action needed: Urge your congressional representative to cosign the bipartisan letter being circulated in the House of Representatives that asks U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar to reinstate the June COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund reporting requirements.

CHA has prepared a template letter for hospital leaders to send to their congressional representative.

To find your representative’s contact information, visit
 www.house.gov/representatives/find.

Timing:  Contact representatives by Oct. 22.

Background:

On June 19, HHS issued an FAQ on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Provider Relief Fund (PRF). The FAQ defined both expenses and lost revenue attributable to COVID-19, stating that lost revenue is any revenue that a provider lost due to COVID-19. 

However, on Sept. 19, HHS issued a new definition of lost revenue, specifying that after covering the cost of COVID-19-related expenses, hospitals will generally be allowed to apply only PRF payments toward lost revenue, up to the amount of their 2019 net patient operating income.

The new definition will require many hospitals, especially those in rural areas and serving vulnerable communities, to return PRFs based on a new formula and set of metrics that are unfair and unrealistic. This sudden change is extremely problematic, not only for planning and budgeting, but also for accounting, auditing, and bond rating purposes. We expect that California hospitals could be required to return as much as $1 billion of the roughly $6 billion PRFs they have received to date.

Reps. McKinley, Thompson, Marshall, Levin, Lucas, and O’Halleran are circulating a letter to Secretary Azar requesting that the PRF reporting guidelines revert back to the original June 2020 terms. In addition to being led by two Californians, Reps. Cisneros, Rouda, Vargas, Davis, and Garamendi have already signed on.   

Please see CHA’s template letter for hospital leaders to send to their member of Congress, asking them to sign on to this bipartisan letter. 

On Oct. 14 from 1 to 2 p.m. (PT), CHA will host a webinar to clarify the new requirements. CHA will also provide members with a workbook to assist them in tracking and organizing these data. More information and registration is available on the CHA website.