Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced $20 billion in new funding for providers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Most healthcare practice owners should be eligible for Phase-3 as follows:
• Providers who previously received, rejected or accepted a General Distribution Provider Relief Fund payment are invited to apply for additional funding that considers financial losses and changes in operating expenses caused by the coronavirus. Providers that have already received payments of approximately 2% of annual revenue from patient care may submit more information to become eligible for an additional subsidy.
• An expanded group of behavioral health providers confronting the emergence of increased mental health and substance use issues exacerbated by the pandemic are now eligible for relief payments. Working with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HRSA developed a list of the nation’s behavioral health providers now eligible for funding, which includes, for example, addiction counseling centers, mental health counselors, and psychiatrists.
• Previously ineligible providers, such as healthcare practices that began practicing in 2020, are also invited to apply, including Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, dentists, assisted living facilities and behavioral health providers that began practicing January 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020.
Learn more by reading the HHS Press Release on the New Phase 3 Provider Relief Funding at:
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/10/1/trump-administration-announces-20-billion-in-new-phase-3-provider-relief-funding.html
HHS has issued Instructions for this Phase-3 subsidy available at: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/provider-distribution-instructions.pdf.
Additional info on the program is available at:
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/terms-and-conditions-phase-3-general-distribution-relief-fund.pdf?language=en.
To complete the application on your own, go to https://cares.linkhealth.com/dashboard/#/ and use the login credentials set up when you applied for the initial subsidy of 2% of your 2019 practice collections.