Health Care Alert: HHS Rolls Out CARES Act Provider Relief Funds Final Reporting Data Elements

On Friday, September 19, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the long-awaited reporting requirement specifics referenced in the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Terms and Conditions.

Providers who kept and/or attested to receiving PRF agreed in the Terms and Conditions to report that their use of the funds was appropriate and only for certain allowable health care related expenses or lost revenues attributable to coronavirus. The Terms and Conditions indicated that forthcoming requirements would be made available when specified by the HHS. On July 20, 2020, HHS announced that these details could be expected  by August 17, 2020 with a reporting timeline to begin on October 1, 2020.

Friday’s announcement is the latest update and includes these long-awaited details.

Some highlights require providers who received $10,000 or more in PRF to:

• Submit in two categories, their allocated use of the PRF between General and Administrative (G&A) or health care related operating expenses and lost revenues attributable to coronavirus.
  • G&A expense examples provided include:
    • Mortgage/Rent
    • Insurance
    • Personnel¹
    • Fringe Benefits
    • Lease Payments
    • Utilities
    • Other G&A Expenses
  • Health care related expenses used to prepare or respond to coronavirus. Examples include:
    • Supplies used to prepare for or respond to coronavirus (i.e., PPE, hand sanitizer, cleaning products)
    • Equipment (i.e., updates to HVAC systems, ventilators)
    • Information Technology (i.e., remote work arrangements, telehealth, increased bandwidth for same)
    • Facilities (i.e., accommodations made to physical plant to respond to coronavirus)
• Calculate lost revenues represented as a negative change in year-over-year net operating income from patient-related sources (e.g., compare 2019 calendar data to 2020 data to support any lost revenue experienced as a result of coronavirus impacts…lost volume, etc.).
• Fully expend these funds by July 31, 2021 as appropriate.
• Report any other financial assistance received such as Payroll Protection Program (PPP) funding, Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, insurance claim income, etc.
• Show G&A and lost revenue for 2019 and 2020 by quarter.
• Submit additional non-financial data metrics related to personnel, patient and facility metrics and any changes in ownership.

Providers who expended more than $750,000 in aggregated federal financial assistance in 2020 (e.g., PRF + PPP + SBA loans) are also subject to Single Audit requirements. If you are a provider in that category, you will need to indicate that you are subject to this level of audit and whether, if known, the auditors selected these PRF for review.

Finally, this announcement indicates that the reporting system will now be available in early 2021. In preparation for this filing, we recommend you begin working with your internal operations team and accountant to identify these data elements in preparation for the filing window.

If you have questions about these requirements, or use of the funds, please contact our Health Care Practice Group.