NABH and Other Healthcare Groups Urge HHS to Extend Provider Relief Fund Deadline
NABH and eight other healthcare associations this week urged the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) to extend the June 30 deadline by which providers must use their Covid-19 Provider Relief Fund (PRF) payments.
Instead, the groups wrote in a
letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, HHS should use the length of the public health emergency as a guideline for providers to finish using the funds. The letter also requested that HHS expedite distributing the remaining PRF resources.
“Congress has allocated $178 billion to date to aid all types of health care providers through the PRF and designated in the most recent Covid-19 relief package an additional $8.5 billion through the Rural Relief Fund,” the letter noted. “However, not all of the funds have been distributed, and those that have may not yet have been fully utilized by the recipients,” it continued. “We previously noted the ongoing financial burden our members are facing; add to this the uncertainty regarding when the pandemic will ease more considerably to allow for a full return to “business as usual,” such as regular wellness visits and the resumption of scheduled surgeries,” the letter said, adding that the nation’s hospitals will continue to face challenges beyond the June 30 deadline.
Separately this week, Secy. Becerra signaled his department is considering it. “Some folks have asked for an extension,” Becerra was reported as saying during a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing. “We’re looking at that very, very closely.”
Biden Administration Plans to Open Applications for Billions in Provider Grants
News outlets this week reported the Biden administration plans to open applications for billions of dollars in grants for hospitals and other healthcare providers before the end of May.
Hospitals have asked administration officials to release more of the funds that Congress approved in December 2020. To date, providers have been reimbursed for only a portion of their losses through June 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the stories—which sourced people familiar with the plans—the next tranche of money will deplete most of the money in the $178 billion fund to help providers.
CMS Issues Guidance on Requirements Added to Medicare’s Conditions of Participation
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on May 7 released interpretive
guidance on the new hospital admission, discharge, and transfer notification requirements that were added to the Medicare program’s Conditions of Participation.
The new rules became effective on May 1, 2021, after having been delayed because of the pandemic.
Overdose Prevention Network to Host Youth Engagement Discussion on May 26
The Overdose Prevention Network will host a 30-minute online discussion about how youth engagement and providing stability can play a meaningful role in supporting overdose prevention and providing connections to treatment.
Part of the organization’s “Meet the Partner” series, the “Saving Lives with Youth Engagement” session will feature Graciela Razo, harm reduction coordinator for Safe Horizon’s Streetwork Project in New York City.
Click
here to learn more and register.
Kennedy Forum to Host Parity Webinar Featuring U.S. Labor Secy. Martin Walsh on May 27
U.S. Labor Department (DOL) Secy. Martin Walsh will serve as a panelist during the Kennedy Forum’s webinar, “Mental Health Parity: Ending Discrimination in Health Insurance Coverage,” on Thursday, May 27.
The hourlong webinar will address a range of issues, including DOL’s role in enforcing the 2008
Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act; common parity violations and how they inhibit access to care; new statutory requirements requiring plans to conduct detailed parity analyses; and more.
Free for attendees, the webinar will also feature Kennedy Forum founder and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Ann Marie Sullivan, M.D., commissioner for New York’s Office of Mental Health.
Click
here to register.
Registration Now Open for the NABH 2021 Annual Meeting!
Registration is open for the NABH 2021 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, Oct. 6 – Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at the Mandarin Oriental Washington, DC.
We hope you join us as we recognize our meeting theme,
Expanding Access: Right Care. Right Setting. Right Time. Please visit our Annual Meeting
webpage to register for the meeting and to reserve your hotel room.
We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
Fact of the Week
A new
study in
JAMA found fatal drug overdoses in San Francisco increased by 50% during after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.