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Provider Relief Funds – Continued Confusion Regarding Reporting Requirements and Lost Revenues

Client Alert
January 15, 2021

WARNING: Take a deep breath before you read this! And then pat yourself on the back for your continued resilience and ability to adapt and pivot during this unprecedented time! 2021 is seeming to prove to be a continuation of 2020 with one constant – change and uncertainty. In Fall 2020, HHS issued multiple rounds of guidance and FAQs regarding the reporting requirements for the Provider Relief Funds, the most recently published notice being November 2, 2020 and December 11, 2020. Specifically, the reporting portal for the use of the funds in 2020 was scheduled to open on January 15, 2021. Although there was much speculation as to whether this would occur. And, as of the date of this article, the portal was not opened.

The aggregate HHS guidance regarding the reporting requirements basically required providers to report (1) expenses attributable to COVID, and (2) lost revenues attributable to COVID. While those in the healthcare industry would generally agree that expenses attributable to COVID have been predictably defined by HHS, controversy continues to surround the definition of lost revenues attributable to COVID. Under the most recent guidance that we have available, lost revenues is defined as the year-over-year net change in patient care revenues from 2019 to 2020 plus additional assistance received in 2020 (including all PPP, EIDL, and other federal, state, and local assistance). Of course, this changed from guidance issues in early Fall 2020 and June 2020. 

On December 27, 2020, the Federal Appropriations Act was signed into law. While this is largely hailed as a COVID-19 relief package that served as a follow up to the Paycheck Protection Program, it did contain some changes to the Provider Relief Funds and the calculation of lost revenues. 

Providers received Phase 1 funds through automatic payments electronically deposited in their accounts based on 2019 Medicare fee-for-service payments. During Phase 1, providers had the option to apply for additional funds to supplement lost revenue, up to 2% of 2019 total collections by submitting additional practice information – including lost revenues. Providers could use a reasonable accounting methodology to calculate lost revenues where such methodologies included the difference between the provider’s 2020 budget and actual 2020 revenues or comparison of current revenues to previous revenues for the same time period. 

The definition of lost revenues was further revised in September 2020, steering away from a “reasonable accounting methodology” and moving towards a year-over-year analysis. And then finally settling on the definition contained in the November 2, 2020 guidance with a year-over-year analysis of revenues from patient care, but adding back in other assistance received in 2020. The guidance did not include any allowances for material changes in the provider’s business such as the addition or loss of providers, locations, or service lines. 

Through the new legislation, Congress appears to be sending a message back to HHS to revise the definition of lost revenues to allow providers to use a “reasonable accounting methodology” instead of a “one-size fits all” calculation. It will also be interesting to see whether HHS will exclude the additional assistance received in 2020 from the calculation.

HHS did update the FAQs on January 12, 2021 after the Federal Appropriations Act was passed, but these updates did not address the lost revenue calculations. So we anticipate that the portal will not open as anticipated and that additional changes will be forthcoming.  As a next step, providers should continue to be on the lookout for additional updates regarding the Provider Relief Funds. Providers should also continue to gather information related to expenses, revenues, and additional assistance received in 2020 in anticipation of reporting requirements. We can definitely count on one thing – CHANGE!   

If you have any questions, please contact BMD Healthcare and Hospital Law Member Amanda Waesch at alwaesch@bmdllc.com or 330-253-9185.

Provider Relief FundHealthcare LawBMD Healthcare & Hospital Law GroupAmanda L. WaeschCOVID-19 Relief
Client Alert

Ohio Hospitals and Healthcare Clinics: It’s Time to Revisit Your Billing and Collection Practices

February 1, 2021According to a recent Cuyahoga County case, certain healthcare entities may not be protected from liability when engaging in unfair or deceptive billing acts. This decision is consistent with the growing trend across the country to encourage price transparency and eliminate unfair surprise billing practices by health care organizations. Now is the time for hospitals and other health care organizations to revisit their billing and collection policies and procedures to confirm that they are legally defensible and consistent with best practices.Client Alert

HIPAA Business Associate Agreements: Why These Contracts Matter

January 27, 2021No one loves drafting, reading or negotiating HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs). Yet many of us need to do so, and some of us do so daily. They are often boring, dense and technical, but BAAs are important from both a legal and a business perspective, and they deserve our attention. Failure to enter a BAA when one is required can constitute a HIPAA violation that results in substantial liability, as demonstrated by certain recent Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) settlements.1 A business associate who makes a disclosure that is not authorized by the applicable BAA or required by law can be subject to civil and, in some cases, criminal penalties. Further, parties are often presented with BAAs that contain onerous one-sided indemnification and other provisions that can be devasting to an organization in the event of a HIPAA breach. The significance of a BAA is often not fully understood by the parties until something goes wrong (e.g., a HIPAA security incident or breach, an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) audit or a fracture in the relationship between the parties) and, at that point, there is limited opportunity to mitigate legal and business risk. Ideally, attention should be given at the commencement of the business associate relationship, when the parties are able, to thoughtfully addressing regulatory requirements, planning and preparing for potential adverse events and appropriately allocating risk among the parties. As with most healthcare regulatory compliance initiatives, a proactive approach with respect to BAAs is preferable. This article provides a broad overview of certain BAA requirements and some practical negotiating tips for the parties involved.Client Alert

“I’m Out Of Here!” Now What?

January 27, 2021We all know that the healthcare industry is experiencing a wave of integration. This trend has been evident for many years. Fewer physicians are willing to assume the legal, financial and other business risks associated with owning their own practices. More and more physicians, including anesthesiologists, are becoming employed by large physician groups, health systems and national providers. This shift necessarily involves not only entry into new employment arrangements but also the termination of existing relationships. And those terminations are often governed by written employment agreements, state and federal healthcare laws and employer benefit plans and other policies and procedures. Before pursuing their next opportunity, physicians should pause for a moment and first attend to the arrangement that they are leaving. Departing physicians need to understand their legal rights and obligations when leaving their current employment relationships in order to avoid unintended consequences and detrimental missteps along the way. Here are a few words of practical advice for physicians contemplating an exit from their current employment arrangements.Client Alert

Investment Training for the Second and Third Generations

January 19, 2021Consider this scenario. Mom and Dad started the business from the ground up. Over the decades it has expanded into a money-making machine. They are able to sell the business and it results in a multimillion-dollar payday for their labors. The excess money has allowed Mom and Dad to invest with various financial advising firms, several fund management groups, and directly with new startups and joint ventures. Their experience has made them savvy investors, with a detailed understanding of how much to invest, when, and where. They cannot justify formation of a full family office with dedicated investors to manage the funds, but Mom and Dad have set up a trust fund for the children to allow these investments to continue to grow over the years. Eventually, Mom and Dad pass. Their children enjoy the fruits of their labors, and, by the time the grandchildren are adults, Mom and Dad's savvy investments are gone.Client Alert

Ohio S.B. 310 Loosens Practice Barrier for Advanced Practice Providers

January 14, 2021S.B. 310, signed by Ohio Governor DeWine and effective from December 29, 2020 until May 1, 2021, provides flexibility regarding the regulatorily mandated supervision and collaboration agreements for physician assistants, certified nurse-midwives, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse practitioners working in a hospital or other health care facility. Originally drafted as a bill to distribute federal COVID funding to local subdivisions, the healthcare related provisions were added to help relieve some of the stresses hospitals and other healthcare facilities are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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