CMS Approves Approximately $34 Billion
for Providers with the Accelerated/Advance Payment Program for Medicare
Providers in One Week
The
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has delivered near
$34 billion in the past week to the healthcare providers on the
frontlines battling the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The funds
have been provided through the expansion of the Accelerated and Advance
Payment Program to ensure providers and suppliers have the resources
needed to combat the pandemic.
“Healthcare
providers are making massive financial sacrifices to care for the
influx of coronavirus patients,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
“Many are rightly complying with federal recommendations to delay
non-essential elective surgeries to preserve capacity and personal
protective equipment. They shouldn’t be penalized for doing the right
thing. Amid a public health storm of unprecedented fury, these payments
are helping providers and suppliers – so critical to defeating this
terrible virus – stay afloat.”
The
streamlined process implemented by CMS for COVID-19 has reduced
processing times for a request of an accelerated or advance payment to
between four to six days, down from the previous timeframe of three to
four weeks. In a little over a week, CMS has received over 25,000
requests from health care providers and suppliers for accelerated and
advance payments and have already approved over 17,000 of those
requests in the last week. Prior to COVID-19, CMS had approved
just over 100 total requests in the past five years, with most being
tied to natural disasters such as hurricanes.
The
payments are available to Part A providers, including hospitals, and
Part B suppliers, including doctors, non-physician practitioners and
durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers. While most of these
providers and suppliers can receive three months of their Medicare
reimbursements, certain providers can receive up to six months.
The
CMS Accelerated and Advance Payment Program is funded from the Hospital
Insurance (Part A) and Supplementary Medical Insurance (Part B) trust
funds, which are the same fund used to pay out Medicare claims each
day. The advance and accelerated payments are a loan that providers
must pay back. CMS will begin to apply claims payments to offset the
accelerated/advance payments 120 days after disbursement. The majority
of hospitals including inpatient acute care hospitals, children’s
hospitals, certain cancer hospitals, and critical access hospitals will
have up to one year from the date the accelerated payment was made to
repay the balance. All other Part A providers and Part B suppliers will
have up to 210 days to complete repayment of accelerated and advance
payments, respectively.
It
is important to note, this funding is separate from the $100 billion
provided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
Act. The CARES Act appropriation is a payment that does not need to be
repaid. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be
providing additional information on how healthcare providers and
suppliers can access CARES Act funds in the coming weeks.
The
fact sheet on the accelerated/advance payment process and how to submit
a request can be found here: Fact Sheet Providers can also contact
their Medicare Administrative Contractor for any questions.
This
action, and earlier CMS actions in response to COVID-19, are part of
the ongoing White House Coronavirus Task Force efforts. To keep up with
the important work the Task Force is doing in response to COVID-19,
visit www.coronavirus.gov. For a complete
and updated list of CMS actions, and other information specific to CMS,
please visit the Current Emergencies Website.
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