HHS Announces Over $4 Billion
in Additional Relief Payments
On Friday, July 10, 2020, the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
announced that it will be providing an additional $4 billion in funding to safety net and rural hospitals impacted by the coronavirus pandemic using expanded criteria.
Additional $3 Billion to Safety Net Hospitals
HHS is expanding the criteria for payment qualification
to hospitals with a profit margin of less than 3% averaged consecutively over two or more of the last five cost reporting periods, as reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in its Cost Report filings.
$1 Billion to Certain Rural Providers and Other Providers from Small Metropolitan Areas
HHS has expanded the criteria for rural health care providers, including hospitals, health clinics, and health centers. The expanded criteria will now include special rural Medicare designation hospitals in urban areas as well as others who provide care in smaller non-rural communities
.
