America’s Essential Hospitals in a letter urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to allocate the remaining money in the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) and revise its guidance on the use of these funds.
America’s Essential Hospitals asked HHS to take several steps to ensure essential hospitals receive much-needed relief and are equipped for their central role in the continued response to the pandemic:
- swiftly distribute remaining PRF funds;
- issue another targeted distribution to hospitals serving a safety net role, with a refined methodology that will ensure hospitals committed to serving the underrepresented remain financially viable;
- issue guidance for the Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 Uninsured Program that will align with ICD-10 coding guidance; and
- make revisions and clarifications in the PRF reporting guidance that will remove ambiguity and allow providers to continue to use funds to cover lost revenue and expenses related to COVID-19.
Visit the America’s Essential Hospitals coronavirus resource page for more information about the pandemic.
Contact Senior Director of Policy Erin O’Malley at eomalley@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
