WASHINGTON _ The Trump administration announced Tuesday how $25 billion from COVID-19 response legislation enacted this spring will begin to be distributed to eligible providers serving low-income patients during the pandemic.
The announcement comes less than a week after leaders from health committees sent a rare bipartisan, bicameral letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar criticizing the delay in distributing the funds.
Congress appropriated $175 billion in health care provider relief funds through two COVID-19 laws. The letter last week from the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Finance committees urged HHS to act quickly to provide the Medicaid portion of the relief funds, citing the slim margins many safety net providers already operate on.
HHS will distribute $15 billion to providers that participate in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program and have not received payments from the provider relief fund. In addition, $10 billion of provider relief funds will start going to safety net hospitals this week.
"Healthcare providers who focus on treating the most vulnerable Americans, including low-income and minority patients, are absolutely essential to our fight against COVID-19," Azar said in a statement.
HHS said it will open up its payment portal on Wednesday for Medicaid and CHIP providers, which will receive payments based in part on annual patient revenue. That payment will be at least 2% of gross revenue from patient care.
Providers that have experienced lost revenue or increased costs due to the pandemic will be eligible. That could include specialties like pediatricians and behavioral health providers.
In order to qualify for these funds, providers must not have already received funding from a prior allocation and must have billed the state Medicaid program or managed care plans between Jan. 1, 2018, and May 31, 2020.
HHS estimates that 1 million health care providers may qualify for funding, and that 62% of Medicaid and CHIP providers have already received funding in the previous round.
Safety net hospitals will receive their allocation of $5 million to $50 million through direct deposit.
To qualify, a hospital must have a Medicare Disproportionate Payment Percentage of 20.2% or greater, profitability of 3% or less, and a level of average uncompensated care per bed of $25,000 or more.
HHS also said an additional allocation for dentists is still in the works.
The post HHS announces plan to send out COVID-19 Medicaid payments appeared first on Roll Call.
