HHS Releases $4.9 Billion to Skilled Nursing Centers
For the past several weeks, our joint efforts with our partners at AHCA/NCAL in D.C. have been focused largely on a request to HHS to establish a fund to provide financial support specifically to long-term care facilities. Today, we learned that these efforts have been met with success. The federal government will allocate
$4.9 billion to certified skilled nursing centers
,
from the Provider Relief Fund created by the CARES Act.
You and your teams have been on the front lines for months, working hard to prevent and contain this deadly virus, especially in a number of the hot zone areas. We know that these resources are essential during this difficult time.
Every provider, whether you have cases of COVID-19 or not, is fighting to protect residents or keep the virus out the building. This has required substantial outlays for PPE, testing, agency staff and hero pay for regular staff as we isolate and cohort residents, prevent staff from working across units, and increase cleaning and infection control procedures. If a nursing home has COVID-19 positive patients, those costs double and triple.
Providers will be paid electronically where possible. Providers who normally receive a paper check for reimbursement from CMS will receive a paper check in the mail for this payment as well, within the next few weeks.
- HHS will make relief fund distributions to SNFs based on both a fixed basis and variable basis.
- Each SNF will receive a fixed distribution of $50,000, plus a distribution of $2,500 per bed.
- Providers must attest that they will only use Provider Relief Fund payments for permissible purposes and agree to comply with future government audit and reporting requirements.
Unfortunately, assisted living providers still have not received the relief funds they need. This has happened for a variety of reasons. One issue is that because assisted living is not federally regulated, there is not a simple way to create a group of eligible providers or a methodology to pay them. We know this is creating a real hardship for our assisted living members and along with our partners at AHCA/NCAL, we are committed to working on this challenge.
The resources announced today are critical for providers. We are proud to have worked with AHCA/NCAL in advocating to Members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation and HHS on your behalf. These resources are welcome news, but we are not done yet. Many of you have mounting challenges in the weeks and months to come.
We at HFAM are always thankful for our AHCA/NCAL affiliation and now more than ever, we appreciate the critical importance of this strong partnership with the nation's largest association of long-term and post-acute care providers. HFAM and AHCA remain focused and committed to working on your behalf. We’re so proud to be able to represent you, especially now. You are saving lives.
