Payments starting to hospitals with high COVID-19 admissions, rural providers

From U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a release Friday that it is processing payments from the Provider Relief Fund to hospitals with large numbers of COVID-19 inpatient admissions through April 10 and to rural providers in support of the national response to COVID-19.

Montana is receiving payments in the rural providers $10 billion distribution, with Health and Human Services saying 121 providers will receive a total of $199,485,740.

“These new payments are being distributed to health care providers who have been hardest hit by the virus: $12 billion to facilities admitting large numbers of COVID-19 patients and $10 billion to providers in rural areas, who are already working on narrow margins,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “HHS has put these funds out as quickly as possible, after gathering data to ensure that they are going to the providers who need them the most.”

COVID-19 High-Impact Distribution:

Recognizing the particular impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on hospitals in certain parts of the nation, and that inpatient admissions are a primary driver of costs to hospitals related to COVID-19, HHS is distributing $12 billion to 395 hospitals who provided inpatient care for 100 or more COVID-19 patients through April 10, $2 billion of which will be distributed to these hospitals based on their Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share and uncompensated care payments.

These 395 hospitals accounted for 71 percent of COVID-19 inpatient admissions reported to HHS from nearly 6,000 hospitals around the country. The distribution uses a simple formula to determine what each hospital receives: hospitals are paid a fixed amount per COVID-19 inpatient admission, with an additional amount taking into account their Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share and uncompensated care payments.

These hospitals will begin receiving funds via direct deposit in the coming days.

Rural Distribution:

Rural hospitals, many of which were operating on thin margins prior to COVID-19, have also been particularly devastated by this pandemic. As healthy patients delay care and cancel elective services, rural hospitals are struggling to keep their doors open.

Recipients of the $10 billion rural distribution will include, rural acute care general hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals — CAHs — Rural Health Clinics — RHCs — and Community Health Centers located in rural areas.

Hospitals and RHCs will each receive a minimum base payment plus a percent of their annual expenses. This expense-based method accounts for operating cost and lost revenue incurred by rural hospitals for both inpatient and outpatient services. The base payment will account for RHCs with no reported Medicare claims, such as pediatric RHCs, and CHCs lacking expense data, by ensuring that all clinical, non-hospital sites receive a minimum level of support no less than $100,000, with additional payment based on operating expenses. Rural acute care general hospitals and CAHs will receive a minimum level of support of no less than $1,000,000, with additional payment based on operating expenses.

Eligible providers will begin receiving funds in the coming days via direct deposit, based on the physical address of the facilities as reported to the Centers for Medicare, regardless of their affiliation with organizations based in urban areas.

A state-by-state breakdown including counties in the low-income breakdown is available online at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/covid-19-high-impact-allocation.pdf .